A NEW litter blitz programme has been drawn up by civic leaders in Basingstoke - without spending any extra money.

The street cleansing programme - which aims to make better use of manpower, identify cost savings, and recruit more sweepers - was approved by the Cabinet this week.

A best-value review of street cleaning highlighted positive aspects of the services, areas that needed to be improved and the way forward.

The scheme will see the borough being split into four cleaning districts - each being looked after by a team of four operators and a mechanical sweeper.

Co-ordination between the cleansing and grounds maintenance will be improved to clear up areas on the same day.

Each community centre or shopping precinct will be cleaned on a daily basis, and more time will be spent educating people about litter and enforcing litter laws.

The time spent travelling to the rubbish dump in Wade Road will be reduced significantly by having the operators unload the rubbish into a small holding area in each of the four districts and will be collected in one go by a trailer.

Cllr George Hood, the Cabinet member for community well-being, said: "It's 10 years now since we last drew up the street cleaning contract. In that time the town has grown tremendously. In the last 12 months, the service we were providing was not the service we wished to provide."

He added: "Five years ago 1,400 tonnes of litter was dropped. That figure has now doubled to 2,800. We need to educate the public. We have more litter bins in the borough than any other single authority in the county - over 2,000 - and yet people decide to throw their rubbish on the ground."

Following approval by the Cabinet, the cleansing proposals will go before the next full council meeting. It is hoped the scheme will be implemented by April.