As reported in the Government’s Litter Strategy for England local councils spent a total of £778 million on street cleaning in 2015/16. This is an average per household of only £34.4 pa.

In 2009/10 they spent £870 million or £39.8 pa per household.

As prices had increased by 17.7% in this period the per household spend fell by 26% in real terms.

In contrast in 2015/16 we spent £187 per household on “hairdressing and beauty treatments” –  over 5 times as much as on street cleaning?

Data Sources:

Street Cleansing figure (RO5 Line 270)

Total number of households by region and country of the UK, 1996 to 2017

Cost of keeping the streets clean

Peter Silverman
20th June 2018