Council Leader Tony Dyer prioritises money to tackle street litter and fly tipping 

Cllr Tony Dyer, Leader of Bristol City Council, has today prioritised funding to tackle street litter and fly tipping, following feedback from the public and budget cuts under the previous Labour administration.

Cllr Dyer said, “Following new information from the quality-of-life survey, and strong feedback from the initial responses from the waste consultation, we are hearing loud and clear that one of the most pressing priorities for Bristol residents is to keep our streets clean.

“The quality-of-life survey shows high dissatisfaction about street cleanliness, and that deprived areas of the city have been disproportionately affected.

“A small amount of extra government funding has been identified following the final settlement and this has been placed in a contingency for emerging pressures. I plan to prioritise this funding to respond to concerns raised about street litter and fly tipping.

“It’s no surprise that this is a problem. Labour took £700K out of tackling street cleansing and fly tipping in 2023. This money will go some way to making up for this loss, and I hope will include putting back in one of the two fly-tipping rounds that Labour removed and increasing street cleansing in certain areas.”

“But while I can make this a priority for the Greens, a task and finish group made up of Councillors from all parties will prioritise how this money is best spent.”

Cllr Martin Fodor, Chair of the Environment and Sustainability Policy Committee, where the task and finish group will report back, said “I welcome this extra funding to help keep our streets clean.

“We are listening to residents’ feedback and by hearing your views, we can make changes to tackle fly-tipping and keep our streets clean, together.”

“My committee will also be looking at what changes we can make to improve Bristol’s recycling rate, and I ask everyone to fill in the waste consultation on how we can do this. Analysis shows that over 40% of what’s in Bristol’s black bins can be recycled, and a lot of this is food waste. There is a lot of room to improve, and we must increase our recycling rate from 45% to 65% by 2035 to meet government targets.”

“I am confident that we can reach this ambitious target together, but this would be far easier to achieve with greater income from increased recycling rates. The move from weekly to fortnightly bin collections in Bristol has been the only significant measure to improve recycling rates in the last 20 years – which is why we are consulting on reducing the frequency of waste collections.”

“But we want to hear from everyone. We have listened and prioritised funding for street cleansing, and we will always listen to the voices of those we represent before making any changes in the future.”

Notes for editors

• Bristol Waste’s 23/24 Business Plan includes “service changes in street cleansing services to deliver a further £700k” in efficiencies. – 01. APPENDIX A – BWC One Year Business Plan 2023-24 P.pdf
• This resulted in 1 less fly tip crew, 1 less pump crew (graffiti removal), removal of the rapid response service, and a reduction in cleansing in the north and south of the city by half.
• The Business Plan States that “A consequence of the above will be that resources will be reduced across services in 2023-24 and whilst every effort will be made to minimise the impact, there will inevitability be adverse effects on performance levels.”