This man plans to clean up Bristol’s streets

From curbing the tide of litter left behind on recycling day to facing up to the taggers, Kurt James has the unenviable task of delivering mayor Marvin Rees’ key election pledge – cleaning up the streets of Bristol.

A poisoned chalice maybe but Kurt has a dream – that the population of Bristol will get behind his newly launched Clean Bristol initiative. The project manager for the new campaign doesn’t just want people to report problems and pick up litter, he’d also like them to start their own grassroots community clean-up action groups.

He acknowledges that the council have their own (substantial) bit to do to make our hard-earned taxes work harder, but he thinks he has the vision to make Bristol clean again however, he warns it won’t happen overnight.

He spoke to Bristol24/7 about how he’s going to mobilise the city to clean up the streets.

What have you got planned that is different?

The main thing that we have got planned is just to say to people in the city (449,300 at last count) that what we really need you to do is just a little bit, even if that’s just picking up a piece of litter to make the city cleaner.

But how is that going to change people’s behaviour and attitudes?

One of the complaints that we hear a lot is that when the waste company collect recycling they leave a trail of recycling down the roads; behaviour like that we can change so our providers aren’t contributing to the waste down our streets.

We are also going to be publicising the Clean Street message; telling the city repeatedly that it’s our joint responsibility to keep the streets clean and tidy. We could double the number of staff we have [cleaning the streets] but if we are still picking up after people dropping litter or fly tipping or tagging then the city will never ever get clean – we will just be chasing our tails.

We’re also going to be improving our policy base. We have weaknesses in our policies around graffiti and bins on streets. We need to make sure they are solid and tight so everyone knows what they are responsible for and what we are responsible for.  

When there are people who just won’t change their behaviour then we will start to to use our enforcement resources. 

Have you got the poisoned chalice delivering one the mayor’s electoral promise on a limited budget?

We have quite a sizable budget – we spend a large amount of money (approximately £6 million every year spent on services including street cleaning, fly-tip and fly-posting removal, sex and drug litter clearance, and graffiti cleaning) cleaning up the streets of the city.

We are working very closely with the waste company because if we want the city to be cleaner and tidier there has to be some give from the people who live in the city. Linked to that we also want people to recycle more and repair more so that we produce less stuff in the city.

[The City Council has made an initial investment of £30,000 into the Clean Bristol project and Bristol Waste Company has also hired four new community engagement officer posts covering the whole city.]

Bristol is known for its street art – who are you targeting?

People love street art and Bristol has a worldwide reputation for the street art, but people don’t want their street to be a mess so we have to be really clear with our relationship with street artists – unless you have permission it’s illegal. When you are tagging on people’s window and cars that is unacceptable.

The police have done a lot of work with graffiti and street artists and arrested a lot of people who have gone through the criminal justice system, their work is recognised nationwide as an example of good practise.

What we want is a conversation with street artists so we can create some space in the city where they can do their art and everyone can go and see it, which is not the same as doing it on someone’s wall who doesn’t want it.

When will we see cleaner streets in Bristol?

We launch today but you wont see a difference tomorrow – this is a three year campaign. We will be having enforcement campaigns, community clean-up campaigns.

It’s about changing perceptions and then you will start to see change. We are asking people to report things and tell us what we are doing thing wrong; when we have practises that don’t work we are going to have to spend some time fixing them but we will start to see change.

In six months time the city is not going to be spick and span – we will do our bit but the city needs to do their bit too.

How do you feel when you look at some of the mess on the streets?

It makes me want to do something about it. If I see fly tipping I’ll report it, if I see litter I’ll pick it up. I’ll do my bit because it doesn’t take that much effort – do something rather than complain about it. 

Read more: The filthy truth about fly tipping