By Ellis Butcher

Last updated at 12:49, Wednesday, 01 August 2012

The opening shots in a new war on litter in Carlisle were being fired today.

After recent public condemnation of the state of the streets, Carlisle City Council is rolling out a new education campaign.

It’s aimed at getting more people to play their part in keeping the streets clean to complement the council’s work of sweeping and cleaning public areas.

Members of the city council’s newly beefed-up enforcement and education team will be in the city centre between 11am and 2pm.

There will be a road show spreading the clean streets gospel to residents and visitors.

Going under the banner “Love Where You Live,” it will aim to prick the conscience of those who drop cigarette butts, discard litter or chewing gum or let their dogs foul the highways and byways.

It will also aim to provide reassurance to tax-payers that the authority is taking the issue seriously.

The city council is taking an “education rather than prosecution,” approach but there’s a warning they will have little hesitation to fine offenders.

It’s the latest roll out by the Labour-run administration to visibly deliver on manifesto promises.

Coun Elsie Martlew has a clean streets agenda as part of her role as the city council’s Portfolio holder for Environment & Transport.

She said: “As well as improved street cleaning across the city centre, we want to get the message across that littering and dog fouling will not be tolerated.

“We want to keep Carlisle’s streets clean and we want to work alongside residents to reduce the amount of litter and dog fouling.

“We will be raising awareness of the issues through our Love Where you Live campaign and will back this up with enforcement action if we have to.”

First published at 11:29, Wednesday, 01 August 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk