CAMBRIDGE City Council is inviting residents to participate in this year’s Great British Spring Clean, run by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy (KBT), which started last Friday (17 March) and takes place until 2 April.

Now in its eighth year, the Great British Spring Clean is the nation’s biggest mass-action environmental campaign. This year the campaign will be focusing on the pride that litter heroes have for their local community. Individuals and groups are being asked to pledge to pick up a bag or more of litter.

Picking up litter is a simple action that anyone can do to make an immediate and visible difference to parks and open spaces. Research by KBT reveals that more than 8.5 million adults in the UK have done litter picking at least once in the past six months.

In Cambridge, the council will be joining in with the Great British Spring Clean by hosting a programme of community ‘clean up’ events across the city, including:

• Friday 31 March, Midsummer Common – meeting point: the Fort St George (11am-12 noon)
• Sunday 2 April, Mill Pond – meeting point: the Millworks (11am-12 noon)

These free events are open to everyone and are a great way for residents to come together to help ‘spring clean’ some of our city’s most popular open spaces.

The council is also offering support to groups and individuals who wish to organise their own local ‘clean up’ events, including through providing litter pickers, hi-visibility vests, gloves, and rubbish bags; and arranging to collect the resulting bags of litter produced.

Those who wish to participate in the council-run ‘clean up’ events or to run their own, can do so by contacting the Streets and Open Spaces Community Engagement Team, email: sosvolunteers@cambridge.gov.uk, phone: 01223 458084. Residents can also visit the volunteer litter picking page on the website for more information on organising their own clean up event.

Cllr Rosy Moore, Executive Councillor for Environment, Climate Change and Biodiversity, said: “We are proud to once again be supporting the Great British Spring Clean.

“Coming together as a community is a great way to do this and that is what the campaign is about. I hope that many of us will feel inspired to join the clean-up events, or even run some of our own.

“I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank those individuals, who outside of the Great British Spring Clean, volunteer through our Streets and Open Spaces service. They carry out litter picking, graffiti removal and other important public space management tasks, to help keep our city looking good all year round.

“It is important that we all take pride in where we live and work together as a community to care for the city. This benefits our health and well-being, general quality of life, and the city’s wildlife.”

To find out more about the Great British Spring Clean campaign and how to take part visit www.keepbritaintidy.org