The legal standards which every Local Authority has to achieve are set out in a Code of Practice. This document sets the cleanliness standards expected and the response times in which these should be achieved. For a more detailed explanation please see our Code of Practice|.
To ensure we meet this obligation our partners at Keep Scotland Beautiful have developed a process which enables an ‘objective’ assessment of cleanliness to be carried out by trained personnel. The process is called the Local Environmental Audit and Management System (LEAMS)
LEAMS involves a trained person undertaking a survey of randomly selected areas and, using analytical methods, attaching a score to the survey. Surveys are carried out throughout the Council area on a bi-monthly basis and, because the surveyor has been trained, the same methodology is always used. As we are able to attach a score to a cleanliness survey, we are therefore able to set targets for ourselves, and because we carry out regular surveys we are then able to determine whether we are making progress towards our targets or whether we are moving further away.
The survey process is overseen by Keep Scotland Beautiful and a total of 7 surveys are carried out annually, the results of which are then used to compile an annual figure. Four surveys are carried out internally, two surveys are carried out by an external Local Authority and one survey is carried out independently by Keep Scotland Beautiful.
The minimum acceptable cleanliness score is 67 and the following table indicates comparative performance since 2004/05
|
Year
|
04/05
|
05/06
|
06/07
|
07/08
|
08/09
|
09/10
|
10/11
|
LEAMS
Score
|
65
|
66
|
72
|
70
|
71
|
72
|
72
|
The Council places a high importance to this measurement process and has included the cleanliness target among its key performance environmental indicators within the Sustainable Falkirk Strategy.
For anyone interested in knowing more about LEAMS and our cleanliness surveys, please contact the Litter Strategy Team or more information is available at keepscotlandbeautiful.org|