objectives»Taking a Pride in Falkirk

Objective 1 – Taking a Pride in Falkirk (Clean and Attractive)

Gum Free Falkirk

Falkirk Herald ‘Taking a Pride’ campaign

The Falkirk Herald partnered the Falkirk BID in launching the effective ‘Taking a Pride in our town centre’ campaign,which regularly features articles on what is being done to encourage more civic pride in our town centres.

Keep Scotland Beautiful

The Falkirk BID joined KSB, and works closely with them and Falkirk Council to ensure Falkirk town centre is constantly being scrutinised and kept as cleanand as tidy as possible. The BID commissioned KSB to carry out an in depth cleanliness audit of the BID area. In general, Falkirk achieved a good level of cleanliness in most areas, with only a few privately owned areas of the town centre bringing the overall rating down slightly.

2010 Gum Awareness Campaign

On the 1st June 2010, the Falkirk BID team along with BIDs Scotland, Keep Scotland Beautiful and Falkirk Council, launched a gum awareness campaign. The BID team staged a small stunt which involved old shoes being placed on top of discarded gum to highlight the amount of gum that is dropped on the streets of Falkirk. Throughout the month of June, there will be up to 50 new chewing gum bins placed on every street within the BID area, as well as pavement graphics reminding visitors to the town centre to pop their gum in the bin and posters, bus side advertising and local press coverage.

Taking a pride in Falkirk

To promote additional cleanliness in Falkirk town centre and to ensure a cleaner, more attractive environment and to encourage customer loyalty, we identified the following projects and are currently working towards implementing each project:

• In March 2009 we launched the taking a pride in Falkirk campaign in partnership with the Falkirk Herald. The Falkirk BID team staged a Grime Scene in Falkirk High Street to highlight the amount of chewing gum the streets are littered with. This story was covered by BBC Scotland News.

Chewing Gum Removal

In April we introduced the removal of chewing gum from the streets of Falkirk. Initially concentrating on the worst affected areas, we cleaned High Street, Lower Vicar Street, Bank Street, Manor Street, Upper and Lower Newmarket Street. More chewing gum removal is scheduled for summer 2009.

• The Falkirk BID hosted a litter pick in the town centre as part of the National Spring Clean.

Litter Pick

• A number of floral baskets will be displayed throughout the town centre.

• We have introduced a graffiti removal hotline for businesses to report graffiti – Graffiti Hotline contact number 01324 611293.

• We are planning to introduce an evening / night toilet provision within the town centre by 2010, aspiring to reduce the incidents involving urination in public.

• We at the Falkirk BID are eager to maintain the positive appearance of the BID area and feel it essential to continue with the use of the Town Centre Handyman who removes graffiti and illegal billboards etc from the area.

• The BID is investigating the possibility of introducing a co-ordinated approach to commercial waste removal.

• An annual audit carried out by Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB), to ensure that Falkirk Council is achieving its required minimum standards. The first audit was carried out in March and the results can be seen by clicking here.

• We have introduced a town centre Fabric Group to ensure all agencies meet their targets and are currently exploring the possible upgrades to services such as litter pickups, signage, maintenance of street furniture etc.

• The BID is working with Falkirk Council to explore the possibility of introducing recycling bins to the town centre.

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The Old Burgh Buildings, 12/14 Newmarket Street, Falkirk, FK1 1JE