Agenda item

The Panel will consider a presentation from Keep Britian Tidy in respect of Litterpact.

Contact:

Katherine Armitage, Service Director, Environment and Climate Change  

The Panel considered an update from Natalie Depledge and Andrea Crump from Keeping Britain Tidy, who gave a presentation in respect of ‘LitterPact’ and the Love Where You Live’ project. Councillor Amanda Pinnock, Cabinet Member for Communities and Environment was also in attendance and introduced the item.

The Panel were advised that;

·       The Love Where You Live Heckmondwike project was introduced as a 12-month pilot which aimed to:

o   Reduce litter on the ground.

o   Change public attitudes toward littering and perceptions of tidiness.

o   Develop a blueprint for local authorities to replicate.

·       The project was delivered by Keep Britain Tidy in partnership with Kirklees Council and major brands including Coca-Cola, KFC, Mars Wrigley, McDonald’s, and Nestlé.

·       Heckmondwike was selected because:

o   It represented a typical small northern town with a population of 18,000.

o   Half of its Lower Super Output Areas were among the most deprived.

o   It had clear geographic boundaries and moderate footfall.

• The project consisted of five strands:

1.    Monitoring and data collection.

2.    Behaviour change interventions.

3.    Marketing, communications, and PR.

4.    Community and business engagement.

5.    Political and local authority engagement.

• Baseline monitoring in Autumn 2024 included:

o   Two focus groups, a public perception survey, and a Local Environmental Quality (LEQ) ground litter survey.

o   Findings showed 56% of residents agreed they loved where they lived, 10% below the national average.

• Behaviour change interventions implemented included:

• Bin It for Good – which incentivised bin use through donations to local causes, which reduced litter by 52%.

• Still Littering – which targeted “leave behind” litter, reduced litter by 41%.
• Bin Your Gum – which addressed gum littering with grant support, demonstrated up to 80% gum litter reduction in other areas.

• Marketing and PR activities achieved coverage in local and regional media, outdoor advertising, stakeholder emails, and social media campaigns.
• Community and business engagement involved:

o   Distribution of information packs.

o   Launch of the ‘Adopt an Area’ scheme.

o   School engagement and a Good Business Guide.

·       Political engagement included:

• Development of a best practice blueprint for other councils.
• Planned launch at Keep Britain Tidy’s Annual Network Conference.
• National showcase at Westminster via the All-Party Parliamentary Group

·       The next steps included:

• Completion of remaining interventions.
• Endline LEQ and perception research.
• Development of a blueprint for replication.
• Collaboration on a fly-tipping strategy.
• Economic impact assessment of the project.

The Panel noted the presentation and during the subsequent discussion, raised the following questions and points.

·       In response to a question from the Panel in relation to how the learning from the project could be applied in more rural areas, it was advised that the project demonstrated that building a strong evidence base was crucial to understanding the types of litter in an area and the right type of interventions to implement to best address this. Work was being undertaken to replicate the approach to data collection within the availble resources when developing the new Fly-tipping strategy.

·       In response to a question from the Panel in relation to engagement with the LGA and specifically the ‘Neighbourhoods Policy Committee,’ it was agreed that further contact would be made to see where the committee may support Keeping Britain Tidy to amplify similar messages on a national level.

·       In response to a question from the Panel in relation to community engagement, it was advised that 14 areas had now been adopted and 8/14 of those community groups had signed up, been suitably trained with risk assessment carried out and a lending scheme for of litter picking equipment had been implemented.

·       In response to a question from the Panel in relation to the 5 key workstreams, and whether the initial spend was high and how this would be followed up post-cessation of the campaigns it was advised that the expenditure for marketing would fall within the budget of a typical Communications Team and so were not particularly high. There had been a strong focus on shifting public perception as part of the project and a key outcome was to understand how people feel about the places that they live. It was highlighted that a positive aspect about working with Kirklees was that the Council were investing how to adapt a one-off project into a strategy in the long-term.

·       In response to a question from the Panel in relation to the results presented it was confirmed that these were specific hyper local results.

·       In response to a question from the Panel in relation to the marketing campaign the importance of strong communications about ‘what is being done’ to support changing public perception was highlighted. This was welcomed by the Panel as valuable to adding to a sense of pride which in turn improved outcomes for residents.

The Panel noted the ‘Litterpact Presentation’ and special thanks was extended to the officers from Keeping Britain Tidy for their attendance at Panel. It was recommended that;

RESOLVED:

1.    The final outcomes of the ‘Love Where You Live’ Heckmondwike project be shared with the Panel on completion.

2.    Contact be made with the LGA ‘Neighbourhoods Policy Committee’ to identify how they may work in partnership with Keeping Britain Tidy to amplify similar messages on a national level.