Our commitment

All council owned public land should be cleaned on at least an eight weekly basis. Some areas will be visited more frequently, receiving fortnightly or even daily visits - especially around schools, shops and areas of high footfall. Find out more about our street cleansing standards.

When we clean an area we use a combination of litter picking, manual sweeping and mechanical sweeping depending on the needs of an area.  We do not always send all our resources to an area if they are not needed as this would be inefficient, e.g. if an area only requires litter picking we will not send manual or mechanical sweepers.

Schedules may be delayed by public holidays, bad weather (especially snow, when we suspend cleaning so our crews can help with gritting footpaths) and exceptional circumstances that require us to divert the crews away from their planned routes.

Where can I find the cleaning frequencies?

Maps of cleansing frequencies can be found on My MK mapping pages.

Cleaning the A5

The A5 through Milton Keynes is a trunk road which is managed by Highways England, although MK Council is responsible for regular cleaning of the verges, and central reservation.  To work safely near the carriageway the council must book lane closure space with Highways England which restricts the frequency with which we can conduct cleans. Cleaning of the A5 is scheduled "as far as reasonably practicable" on the following frequency:

• Central reservation – once per year
• Verges, slip roads and lane one – three times per year
• Parking areas – monthly

We are not able to work in the live carriageway so any debris or hazardous obstructions should be reported directly to Highways England on 0300 123 5000.

Other landowners with cleaning responsibilities

There are several other landowners in Milton Keynes. The Council does not cleanse land belonging to The Parks Trust (except on grid roads), the Homes and Community Agency, businesses, housing associations or private individuals. Contact these organisations directly if there are cleansing issues on their land.