The Big City Shine Up a huge success
Friday, June 21, 2024
Last week the Wakefield City Centre Management Board, in partnership with local businesses and Wakefield Council, joined forces to clean up the city centre.
“This project was designed to help clean up the city and get it looking even better, while promoting a stronger sense of civic pride.
“We want to encourage people to visit and invest in our city. To do this we must make sure it remains a pleasant, enjoyable place to be. It was wonderful to see so many businesses, residents and young people uniting and taking pride in their city.”
Cllr Michael Graham
Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Growth
The Big City Shine Up took place ahead of a whole host of events and festivities planned for the summer.
The Wakefield Council ‘Our Year’ programme of activity aims to attract tens of thousands more people into the city over the coming months, with everything from music and live entertainment to a huge dragon that will explore the city centre, before finally taking to the sky and flying away into the night.
With so many visitors to the city expected, including first-time visitors, the City Centre Management Board and the Council are taking measures to make sure Wakefield is dressed to impress.
The event saw volunteers from WDH, The Ridings, The Youth Association, Wakefield BID, elected officials, council officers and residents take to the streets as part of the Big City Shine Up. They tackled littering, fly-tipping, vandalism, graffiti, and encouraged more effective recycling.
During the event, two industrial sized waste containers were filled with more than a dozen rubbish sacks full of litter.
Council officers engaged with households in the city centre, promoting better recycling and more effective ways to dispose of rubbish and unwanted items.
Officers met with 17 city centre-based business to discuss waste management and waste disposal practices to ensure the Big City Shine Up leaves a lasting legacy and encourages behavioural changes.
The Wakefield City Centre Management Board intend to build on the success of the Big City Shine Up and is already planning to make it a regular event throughout the year, with the next one planned for the Autumn.