How important is the appearance of the local environment to you? Is it important enough to make you want to take some positive action to help keep your community clean and tidy? If you answered yes, there are a number of ways in which you can do something positive for your community.

The Big Tidy Up is a national campaign which aims to get people outside and busy clearing their local area of litter. Big Tidy Up activities come in all shapes and sizes and can be completed by an individual or a group.

The Big Tidy Up is a great way to socialise and make new friends who share a goal to clean up the local environment, and it doesn’t have to cost a penny! Kits containing items including tabards, refuse sacks and guides can be requested from The Big Tidy Up website, free of charge (they event pay the postage!). The council’s Community Protection Team may also be able to provide you with other equipment on loan such as litter pickers, high visibility vests and can arrange to have any rubbish collected after the activity has finished.

Think The Big Tidy Up isn’t your thing? Think again! Thousands of people across England have already taken part and these include primary schools, secondary schools, uniformed groups, residents associations and businesses (what a great team building exercise!). Many people make a Big Tidy Up event a social event, for example by finishing the activity with a barbeque. If you’re still stuck for inspiration, The Big Tidy Up website contains loads of examples of how you could help clean up your area.

To find out more about The Big Tidy Up and to find out what events have been taking place in Torbay, please visit the website at The Big Tidy Up .

Big Tidy Up events are a great way of ‘blitzing’ an area in one clean up activity, but you may also be interested in taking a longer term approach to keeping your community clean. This might be particularly relevant if you live in an area that has a number of environmental issues like dog fouling, fly-tipping and graffiti.

The council is keen to hear from any local residents or community groups that are interested in taking an active role in cleaning up their area. If you would like to volunteer some time to cleaning up your community and would like to discuss how the council can support you, contact the Community Protection Team using the details at the top of this webpage.

When people commit environmental crimes they often damage property, upset local people and generally make our community look shabby and neglected. Areas which are blighted by environmental crimes can encourage further anti-social behaviour which can make people feel frightened and uneasy. Environmental crimes are also expensive to clean up.

Whilst the council does have a responsibility to ensure Torbay is kept clean, every resident and visitor to the area also has a personal responsibility towards the environment and its cleanliness. If you see someone committing an environmental crime, don’t stand for it – report it. The more information you can provide, the more likely it is that persistent offenders will be caught. When reporting offences, think about the following:

To report anti-social behaviour or environmental crime in Torbay telephone 01803 207900.