Scheduled cleansing — claimed vs. evidenced

Scheduled cleansing — what is claimed, and what is evidenced

The Council states that The Mounts receives a regular, scheduled street-cleansing service. When the Council was asked, under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, to provide the records that would show those cleanses were actually carried out, it confirmed that no such history is kept. This page sets out both positions, in the Council's own words, and measures them against the Code of Practice.

What this page is — and is not. This page presents factual records, quoted from the Council's own official responses. It does not allege that any individual has acted dishonestly. It highlights a gap between what is stated and what can be evidenced by records. Every figure and quotation on this page is taken from an original document or official response that we hold on file and can produce on request — see the source documents at the foot of this page.

A simple question. If the Council's appointed contractors are carrying out the scheduled street cleansing they describe, why is fly-tipping and litter still so widespread across so many streets in The Mounts — and why is the detritus (the ground-in grit and dirt that the Code requires to be swept back to Grade A on surfaced roads) at the level it is? This site does not deal in claims or press releases. It deals in truth and reality — dated photographs of what is actually on the ground.

1. The baseline — what the Code requires

Three points from the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse frame everything below:

Monitoring must be systematic. The Code states that accurate and systematic monitoring is needed, that duty bodies are encouraged to adopt suitable monitoring systems, and that “systematic data collection throughout the year… is vital for ensuring compliance with the code.”
The duty cannot be contracted away. A council may appoint a contractor to carry out cleansing, but “the duty body remains responsible if the land is not maintained to acceptable standards.”
Grade B is the minimum. Land must not fall below Grade B. Grade C and Grade D are, in the Code's own words, “regarded as unacceptable.”

2. What the Council states, and what its records show

What the Council states	What records the Council holds
A cleansing operative visits sections of The Mounts Monday to Friday over a two-week period — “a member of staff from the cleansing crew in the area on a daily basis (Monday–Friday) covering sections of the area over the ten-day period.” (EIR response, 15 June 2026)	Asked for “all records of completed street cleansing visits” with dates, streets, duration and standard: “This information is unavailable; our contractor's data systems will only show the last cleanse and the next cleanse schedule. It does not show the history of completed visits.” (EIR response, 15 June 2026)
An “enhanced cleansing regime with a member of the cleansing crew allocated to cleansing the area for at least half a day, five days a week.” (Stage 2 complaint response, 20 May 2026)	Asked for all mechanised street-sweeper records: “This information is unavailable. Our contractor's data systems will only show the last cleanse and the next cleanse schedule. It does not show the history of completed visits.” (EIR response, 15 June 2026)

The plain point. A scheduled service is described, but the Council confirms it holds no record of any individual cleanse having actually been completed — no dates, no streets covered, no standard achieved. Against the Code's requirement for systematic monitoring, the absence of any completed-visit record is the issue this site documents.

3. The response time you are given is not the Code's

When you report litter or fly-tipping through the Report It system, you receive a reference and a target date. That target is the Council's (or its contractor's) own internal figure. It is not the response time set by the Code — and the Council does not publish any response-time standard linked to the Code. Its report a litter or street cleansing issue and report fly-tipping pages state no timescale tied to zones or grades at all.

The Code's maximum response time (by zone)	What the Council actually provides
High intensity — half a day Medium intensity — 1 day (by 6pm the following evening) Low intensity — 14 days Special circumstances — 28 days Plus: material hazardous to health removed “at the earliest available opportunity”; drug-related litter within 3 hours.	No response-time standard tied to the Code is published. The Report It app issues an internal target date only. And because the Council publishes no zonal map (see Zones map), residents cannot even establish which Code response time should apply to their street.

Documented in the Council's own system. On submitting a report, the Report It system confirms, in writing: “We will attend as soon as possible and we aim to attend all incidents within 5 days.” (Captured 6 July 2026; case reference REP247712; screenshot and page capture held on file.) This is a single, flat 5-day target applied to all incidents, with no zone differentiation at all. Under the Code, the maximum for a Medium-intensity residential street is 1 day, and for a High-intensity street half a day — a blanket 5-day target meets neither.

The Council has also publicly stated that most fly-tips on council-managed land are cleared “within two to three days.” Even that shorter aim would exceed the Code's one-day (Medium) and half-day (High) maximums.

Marking its own homework. The Council's “performance monitoring” is its own record of inspections, and — on its own account — its contractor's systems keep no history of completed cleansing visits. In 2025–26, only four contractual defaults were recorded against the cleansing contractor. With performance largely self-assessed and seldom penalised, there is little independent check that the service meets the Code.

4. The one independent measurement — Grade C

The Council commissioned an independent assessment of the cleansing standard, carried out on 10 December 2025. The assessor recorded that “the area was on average a C.”

Under the Code, Grade C is unacceptable — below the Grade B minimum the Council is required to maintain. This is not a resident's opinion; it is the finding of assessors commissioned by the Council itself.

What the Council says

“Protecting the environment – working towards a cleaner, greener, and more sustainable future.”

West Northamptonshire Council — One West Northamptonshire Plan. Source →

What the evidence shows

The one independent inspection the Council commissioned graded the area “C” — below the standard it must maintain — and its own systems hold no record of a single completed cleanse.

See the records →

5. The scale, in the Council's own figures

Every figure below is taken from the Council's own disclosed records.

Resident reports logged (Report It)	Approximately 5,589 reports recorded in The Mounts between 1 January 2024 and 13 May 2026.
Fly-tipping enforcement (Apr 2024 – Mar 2025)	191 reports across The Mounts; 4 fixed penalty notices, 29 community protection written warnings, 249 notices.
Fly-tipping enforcement (from Apr 2025)	151 reports across The Mounts; 676 notices served, 16 community protection written warnings, 4 fixed penalty notices.
Complaints	248 complaints recorded for Castle Ward since May 2024. The Council states its data “cannot search by street name,” so street-level figures are not held.
Contractual defaults against the cleansing contractor	4 contractual defaults recorded in 2025–26 (all financial penalties).
Equality Impact Assessment	Confirmed “not completed.”

6. Years on the record — a documented paper trail

This is not a new or one-off complaint. Residents have been reporting the condition of The Mounts, in writing, for years — and the correspondence is logged and dated.

Date	On the record
15 June 2023	First formal report logged (“Mount Rubbish – Urgent”).
2023 – 2026	More than 325 items of correspondence about litter, fly-tipping and street cleansing in The Mounts, recorded in the resident's own dated email evidence log.
31 March 2026	A detailed resident report and formal request for information submitted to the Council.
20 May 2026	The Council's two-stage complaints process concludes — the complaint is not upheld.
15 June 2026	The Council's response under the Environmental Information Regulations confirms it holds no history of completed cleansing visits.

Three years, and counting. After three years of documented engagement, the Council's own records still cannot show that a single scheduled cleanse was completed. This is the point on which everything else rests.

7. Independently observed conditions

The images below were not submitted through the Council's Report It app by our team. They are independent, timestamped observations of street conditions in The Mounts, shown against a scheduled cleansing service for which no completed-visit records exist. Placeholders are shown until the images are uploaded.

[Street] — [date/time]. Not reported via Report It.

Each published image will carry its own capture timestamp and integrity details — see Evidence integrity.

8. Right of reply

If West Northamptonshire Council holds completed-visit cleansing records, monitoring data, or any other information that corrects or adds context to what is set out above, we will publish it here in full and amend this page promptly. Our aim is accuracy against the Code — nothing more.

To exercise your right of reply, or to tell us about anything on this site you believe is inaccurate or lacks context, contact the site moderator at — to be added —. We will correct genuine errors, or publish your response, promptly.

9. Source documents held on file

Every statement of fact on this page is drawn from an original document or official response that we retain and can produce on request. The primary sources are:

The Council's response under the Environmental Information Regulations, reference EIR-26-002139, dated 15 June 2026.
The Council's contract performance-monitoring spreadsheet, provided with that EIR response.
The Council's record of contractual defaults (2025–26), provided with that EIR response.
The Council's fly-tipping enforcement data for The Mounts.
The Council's Stage 2 complaint response, dated 20 May 2026.
The independent cleansing-standard assessment commissioned by the Council, dated 10 December 2025.
The Report It data export for The Mounts (1 January 2024 onwards).
The resident's dated email evidence log (2023–2026).
The Report It submission confirmation for case reference REP247712 (captured 6 July 2026), recording the Council's stated “within 5 days” response target.

Personal names and personal data have been withheld. The unredacted originals are held by the site moderator.