Environmental services are feeling the strain, the report says

A report by Glasgow University for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said local authorities were not meeting street cleaning and waste collection demands.

It said environmental services were being overwhelmed with residents losing heart as their neighbourhoods suffer.

People in 49 local authority areas were asked for their views.

The study said deprived neighbourhoods were more difficult to maintain with high-rise buildings, large open spaces and higher population densities especially prone to environmental problems.

It said graffiti, litter, fly-tipping and poorly maintained public spaces were proving problematic.

Competing demands

In contrast, more affluent areas were better able to work effectively and knew that unsatisfactory work was likely to be reported.

Residents in deprived communities previously motivated to keep their neighbourhoods tidy would quickly lose heart as environmental services struggled to cope with demand, the report said.

The research team suggested` local authorities should reverse the cycle of decline by stepping up street cleaning services in deprived neighbourhoods.

The study said regeneration funding, such as the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, could help local authorities to address the competing demands of poor and affluent neighbourhoods.

Some residents are losing heart as services dip, the study found

Annette Hastings, lecturer in Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow and co-author of the report, said people in deprived areas faced a host of complex problems, including bad housing and poor job prospects.

"They often endure poor environmental conditions as well. However, the problems of dirty streets can be fixed more easily than other problems," she said.

"All it takes is the recognition by service managers that services need to be designed and deployed to meet the specific needs of deprived neighbourhoods.

"Action by frontline environmental services staff and residents can make a major difference.

"Clearly, central government also has a key role to play here in ensuring that the most intensely disadvantaged local authorities have the resources they need to tackle problem neighbourhoods without jeopardising service standards elsewhere."