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Whilst the warm weather does wonders for most people’s moods, it has an adverse affect on those whose job it is to clear up after the sun-worshippers.

The sunny spell signals a sizeable increase in litter left behind by the environmentally unconscious in Chiswick’s parks and green spaces with Council services bearing the brunt of the extra work.

“It’s so upsetting to see bottles and paper bags left all over the grass,” a resident told ChiswickW4.com. “It really doesn’t take a moment to put rubbish in the bin or even to take it home with you but that seems too much for some people.”

Although the sun cannot take all the blame for the level of rubbish. Last week the GMB union released new data which ranked Hounslow’s streets amongst the dirtiest in the country. 44% of the relevant land and highways assessed had deposits of detritus that fall below an acceptable level and 15% also had unacceptable of levels of litter.

Paul Kenny, GMB General Secretary said, "There is an alarmingly high and dangerous level of dirty streets and pavements in far too many places. On average the 12% of streets that are officially classified as unacceptable is bad enough but there are 129 councils in England that have a higher proportion than that which is totally unacceptable.

“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 employed to do the job.”

Corinna Smart, Hounslow’s executive member for the environment, said “We aim to remove dumped rubbish and flytipping from your road within 24 hours of the waste being reported to us.

"If we’re alerted to rubbish dumped on privately owned land, we will try to locate the land owners and enforce the clearance of the land.

"Our 24/7 team of Grimebusters, once in place, will be able to tackle graffiti, litter, and illegally dumped rubbish through one direct phone number, and we are committed to cleaning up Hounslow, whatever the season.”

June 30, 2010