Public performance reports

Street cleaning and grounds maintenance

The Council Plan Connect outlines our objectives for 2022-27. Connect Outcomes should not be seen in isolation, they interact with each other, and as we achieve success in one, we move closer to success in others. In delivering our vision to ‘improve the quality of life of everyone in South Lanarkshire’, our priorities show how our work links with our partners, including our Community Planning Partners.

For daily updates, stories and what’s going on in your area, visit our information and news website South Lanarkshire View.

Each year, we produce Annual Performance Spotlights that summarise how we have performed in achieving our Connect Outcomes. To complement these, we have created individual Public Performance Reports which focus on key areas of council business. This report outlines the performance concerning our street cleaning and grounds maintenance service and how this links to our community and environmental outcomes.

We aim to ensure that the environment is kept to a high standard for the benefit of the residents of, and visitors to, the South Lanarkshire area. One way in which we look after the wider environment is through our street cleaning service and grounds maintenance service and through the maintenance of our open spaces, parks, play areas and cemeteries.

Ground Services maintain all council-owned open space, including sports areas such as bowling greens and golf courses, as well as our cemeteries and crematorium. General maintenance includes grass cutting, hedge cutting, herbicide application, tree work, including removal and pruning, and winter shrub bed work. Construction work, such as repairs to fencing, walls, slab and monoblock laying.

To find more details on these services, please visit Street care and cleaning.

How good is our grounds maintenance service? - Target - 72%

What this means
The Land Audit Management System (LAMS) is used across the UK to monitor grounds maintenance. It requires local authorities to undertake inspections over a given monitoring period. The surveyor checks on the quality of the grounds work and if there is evidence of litter, dog fouling, graffiti, vandalism and overflowing litter bins in the areas. A LAMS score is then provided, establishing an overall picture of the standard of maintenance and quality of the local authority’s environment.

Why this matters
This indicator is a good measure of whether we are achieving our aim of ensuring high-quality streets, parks and other public areas so that South Lanarkshire is a place where people want to live, work, visit and invest.

Our performance and how we compare

Comparator	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	Are we improving?
SLC	71.3%	72%	72%	N/A
Scotland	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

How we have performed in improving this public service
The Land Audit Management System (LAMS) maintenance score at year-end has met the annual target.

The Street Cleanliness team deliver a wide range of services, including litter, bins and street sweeping, safer footpaths, graffiti, fly-posting, fly-tipping and dog fouling. We also deal with the uplift of hazardous waste such as syringes and blood spills, and the uplift of dead animals, including domestic pets. We have tagging machines, so if we pick up a pet, we can check its details and keep them on file in case the owner contacts us.

Follow the link to learn about the full list of services covered by Street care and cleaning.

A comprehensive new Litter Strategy was approved by the council in September 2022. The strategy outlines a clear vision for how we will develop various plans and initiatives to prevent and address litter, dog fouling, and fly-tipping. It builds on existing initiatives and complements national campaigns promoted by organisations like Keep Scotland Beautiful and Zero Waste Scotland.

Over the past year, there has been positive engagement with diverse community groups and individuals. Through the community clean-up support online form, groups and residents have been supported in conducting litter picks and cleanups. Ground Services has also actively engaged with the Climate Change and Sustainability Youth Forum by attending meetings, providing information, and assisting with initiatives run in schools.

The Litter Strategy Steering Group provides leadership, governance and oversight that drives collaborative action across the council to achieve the vision and objectives outlined in the action plan.

How clean are my local streets? - Target – 92%

What this means
This indicator provides a measure of the standard of street cleanliness in South Lanarkshire, and is based on two council inspections and an independent inspection of a sample of streets and other relevant land for which we are responsible. It measures the percentage of streets achieving the Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) Standard A and B, that is, no litter or predominantly free of litter and refuse. It therefore provides a good measure of the percentage of streets considered ‘acceptably clean’.

Our performance and how we compare

Comparator	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	Are we improving?
SLC	92.1%	92.3%	92%	Same
Scotland	89.7%	90.6%	92%	Yes

How we have performed in improving this public service
The percentage of streets found to be acceptable via Litter Monitoring Systems Surveys is 92%, meeting the target for the year.

Follow these links to our website for further information on local parks, countryside rangers, getting outdoors.

We will take forward the following key area of improvement:

The new Litter Strategy 2022-2027 was officially launched in early 2023 and is accessible on the council’s website. A Litter Strategy Steering Group has been established to monitor the progress of the associated action plan.

Resource Plans are prepared each year by all Resources to outline the key developments they intend to take forward in the year. Performance and actions relating to the street cleaning service and grounds maintenance service can be found in the Community and Enterprise Resource Plan.

Twice a year, performance reports are presented to council committees on the progress against Resource Plans. In addition, reports detailing progress against the Council Plan Connect Priorities are prepared - see the Quarter 2 (September) and Quarter 4 (March - year end) progress reports for further information.

More information on our outcomes can be found in the Council Plan Connect and the Annual Performance Spotlights.

Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) allows councils to work together, to use performance information in a way that will help understand variations, share knowledge, expertise and good practice, with a view to making improvements. For more information and links relating to this framework, go to the 'Benchmarking' paragraph on the Improvement and how we compare page on our website.

The information contained within this report reflects the position based on the data available at the time of publication (March 2025).