A pilot scheme to improve the cleanliness of streets in central Bath is showing positive results for the city’s residents and visitors, including better compliance and fewer waste-related issues being reported.
Monitoring of the changes to business waste collections introduced last autumn by Bath & North East Somerset Council has shown recorded issues have fallen to around two a week, with less enforcement action needed than before.
The 12-month pilot to help make the city centre more welcoming has increased cleanliness during shop hours and early evenings and helped to deter gulls.
The changes introduced in October 2025 included moving the evening business waste collection window from 6pm to 8.30pm instead of 5pm to 8.45pm, alongside the use of reusable gull proof bags and boxes clearly labelled with business names.
A report on the first six months of the pilot has been presented to the Climate Emergency and Sustainability Policy Development & Scrutiny Panel today (July 9). The panel was asked to review the outcomes of the pilot to date and use the feedback to plan any future improvements needed to business waste collections.
Councillor Mark Elliott, Deputy Leader and cabinet member for Resources, said: “These early results show that businesses are working well with us, which is also evidenced by the low number of complaints we’ve received. Thank you for your support to help keep Bath clean, attractive and welcoming.
“By reducing the amount of waste left on our streets and supporting businesses to comply with the new arrangements, we’re improving the city centre environment for residents, visitors and traders. We will continue to monitor the pilot and work with businesses on any further improvements needed.”
Find out more about how the council helps manage business waste and recycling
Problems with gulls can be reported on the council website. Gulls are protected by law and it is illegal to injure the birds, eggs and their nests without consent from Natural England, which only issues licenses to allow interference with nests and eggs in very specific situations affecting public health or public safety.
