It can be difficult to say what is 'clean', because it is very often a subjective judgement. It is therefore important that we are able to measure cleanliness in a reliable and consistent way.
There are two cleanliness surveys that we use to carry out performance monitoring for the street cleansing service: the Cleanliness Index Monitoring System and the Local Environmental Audit & Management System.
Cleanliness Index Monitoring System
The first is the Cleanliness Index Monitoring System (CIMS), developed by Keep Scotland Beautiful, which allows an objective assessment to be carried out by a trained person. CIMS involves a trained person undertaking a survey of randomly selected areas, using an analytical method, attaching a score to the area, related to the cleanliness. Surveys are carried out throughout the Council area on a bi-monthly basis.
Local Environmental Audit & Management System
The Scottish Executive has also introduced a national survey process called the Local Environmental Audit & Management System (LEAMS). This system uses CIMS survey techniques to obtain comparison cleanliness values for all Local Authorities. With LEAMS, there are a number of surveys done in the Council area by external organisations, ensuring that the monitoring is unbiased.
Because we are able to attach a score to a cleanliness survey, we are able to set targets for ourselves, and because we are carrying out regular surveys we are able to determine whether we are making progress towards our targets or whether we are moving further away.
If you would like to know more about CIMS and LEAMS please see the Litter Strategy| pages. Further information is also available from www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org|.