27th November 2017: Luton Business Improvement District (BID) was awarded Environmental Achievement of the Year at this year’s Luton’s Best Awards for helping to make Luton town centre cleaner and tidier.
Luton’s Best Awards honour the outstanding achievements of individuals, groups and organisations in the town, and the BID was put forward for its Tidy Days initiative which sees volunteers from town centre businesses join together during regular two-hour clean ups over the year.
The Tidy Days are one of many environmental projects lead by and funded by Luton BID as part of its aim to improve the appearance and overall feel of the town centre. There has been eight Tidy Days since the initiative began, with more than 150 volunteers collecting more than 120 bags of litter overall.
Fergus McLardy, pfbb UK, Luton BID project manager said: “The BID team and the volunteers who take part feel very passionate about the Tidy Days, so we are absolutely thrilled to be recognised in such prestigious awards. Improving the town centre environment to ensure it is a welcoming and attractive place for visitors and workers is one of the BID’s major objectives, and our Tidy Days are about providing additional cleaning services to compliment and improve the council’s existing provision. We are delighted they have had such a positive impact and would like to thank all the businesses that have taken part. We are looking forward to continuing our environmental projects and working with partner organisations to develop new ones during 2018.”
Luton Borough Council also support the BID’s Tidy Days by providing an operative to pick up sharps where necessary and collect the waste at the end of the event.
Other Luton BID environmental projects include:
- The purchase of a glutton vacuuming machine to clear hard-to-reach pavement cracks and kerbsides of litter – the machine has been loaned to and is operated daily by Luton Borough Council while the BID continues to fund the maintenance costs.
- A monthly overnight deep clean programme targeting streets and areas most in need of cleaning. The deep cleans involve pressure washing pavements and surfaces, chewing gum removal, litter-picking and a general tidy up.
- Chewing gum boards which went up around the town centre in April to encourage people not to drop their gum on the streets.
- Twelve bins for the town centre which include bait trays to help control and reduce vermin numbers.
- Floral hanging baskets, flower displays and window boxes around the town centre in the spring following excellent feedback from visitors and businesses last year.
For more information on Luton BID and its various events and initiatives throughout the town centre, please visit the BID website www.lutonbid.org/Christmas or contact a member of the BID team by calling 01582 510657 or emailing info@lutonbid.org.