Dirtiest streets across England revealed

The GMB union drew up a list of the dirtiest streets in England, with Merton in west London coming top, while Kensington and Chelsea, also in London, plus Slough and West Somerset were the cleanest. The union said councillors should be clear that "you get what you pay for" with street cleaning. GMB found that half of land and highways in Merton were dirty and a fifth had "unacceptable" levels of litter.

Next in the league were Hounslow and North Hertfordshire where 44 per cent of land and highways assessed were dirty, with about 15 per cent of streets in Hounslow, and 6 per cent in North Hertfordshire having unacceptable of levels of litter.

For all 345 councils in England, 12 per cent of land and highways assessed had litter or other deposits that fall below an acceptable level while 5 per cent had unacceptable levels of litter.

GMB General Secretary Paul Kenny, speaking at the union's annual conference in Southport, said: "There is an alarmingly high and dangerous level of dirty streets and pavements in far too many places.

"Local communities deserve clean and healthy environments. GMB know that clean streets are perfectly feasible everywhere, it's just a matter of ensuring there are enough properly trained and equipped street cleaners."