COUNCIL taxpayers in Wychavon are forking out almost £1 million a year to clean up after litter louts.

Main streets throughout the Vale are cleaned nightly in a bid to stem the tide of fast food cartons, cigarette packets and other rubbish thrown away in the street.

Wychavon District Council waste management officer Mark Edwards said the council spends £950,000 on street cleaning each year to reflect the fact that it aspires to "an excellent service" rather than the extent of the problem.

The sum was revealed after a survey showed that litterbugs were leaving the West Midlands region with an annual litter bill of around £32m.

The fourth Local Environment Quality Survey of England (LEQSE) revealed that more than three quarters of the 12,000 sites surveyed nationally were strewn with cigarette butts, drinks litter has risen by 65 per cent and fast food litter by 450 per cent since 2001.

The study was carried out by Keep Britain Tidy and funded by the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Mark Vickerstaff, regional director of Keep Britain Tidy, said: "Back in 2001 even good citizens admitted to dropping rubbish, while problems such as graffiti and dog fouling were causing real concern to residents.

"Thankfully, campaigns and education messages have changed all that and we are seeing small improvements in our local environment.

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