CIVIC leaders in Eastleigh has pledged its support for this year's Great British September Clean.

The campaign, run by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, brings together individuals, community organisations, businesses and councils to show they love where they live and in 2019 more than half a million #LitterHeroes collected more than 900,000 bags of rubbish.

The event was postponed in early spring because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and is now running in September from 11-27.

It is hoped that the campaign will encourage the British public to take part in small, socially distanced clean-ups to remove litter from streets, parks and beaches across the country.

Alongside announcing Eastleigh Borough Council's (EBC) support for the campaign, cabinet lead for the environment Cllr Rupert Kyrle said: "The Great September Spring Clean gives local people a great opportunity to act against litter and improve their local area together.

"It’s such a shame littering happens at all.

"It’s a blight on our environment, harms wildlife and is completely avoidable if people take their litter home with them or put it in a public bin.

"Last spring residents made a real difference so we hope people will be just as enthusiastic about this autumn’s community clean up."

As part of their commitment to making Eastleigh a greener, cleaner Borough, EBC are loaning litter pickers to groups and are supplying free rubbish bags.

Groups taking part can also liaise with the EBC Street Scene team to arrange for the litter they have gathered to be collected and disposed of.