Street care and cleaning
The Council is responsible for keeping all Council land clear of waste. You can help by reporting any areas where you spot issues with litter or refuse.
We’re not responsible for cleaning private land or land owned by other public bodies. But we can serve a Litter Clearance Notice on occupiers (or the owner if the occupier is not known) of some private land, ordering them to clear their land.
To find out when your street is cleaned or if you feel an area would benefit from additional cleaning, please contact us.
Dropping litter
Dropping litter is illegal and fines of up to £2,500 can be imposed at court. Litter includes cigarette ends and chewing gum.
Authorised officers can demand the name and address of any person suspected of dropping litter on the street. Failing to give that information or giving a false name and address is also an offence.
Street litter notices
If there’s a litter problem on roads and streets, we can serve a street litter notice on some premises. They mainly apply to retail food shops and ask the owners to make sure that the area around the shop is kept clean and tidy.
We’ll work with owners before taking formal enforcement action. In most cases, owners take their responsibilities seriously as it’s in their interest to keep the area litter free.
Where a notice is served, we can issue a fixed penalty ticket of £100 for failing to comply.
Emptying bins
We maintain many of the District's litter bins, as well as emptying dog bins on behalf of parish councils.
Reporting litter problems
Please report any litter problems to us. Our street cleaning team also deal with the removal of syringes, dead animals, dog fouling, fly-tipping, abandoned vehicles, graffiti and fly-posting.
Report a litter bin that needs emptying, providing details of the bin’s location.
Report a dog bin that needs emptying, providing the dog bin number. This is a small sticker on the bin that ranges from 0001 - 0600 that tells us the precise location of the bin.
Report graffiti or fly-posting
Request street cleaning, for incidents including dog fouling.
You can also report all of the above using our resident portal 'MyNS' which will allow you to track the status of the report.
Community litter picks
Find out more about community litter picks on our website, including information on existing groups in your community.
New and replacement dog bins
Parish and Town Councils are responsible for installing dog bins. If you believe a dog bin is required in your area, contact the clerk of your parish/town council.