Keep Britain Tidy has launched a new award to recognise public places that have achieved the very best standards of cleanliness and environmental quality.

The Keep Britain Tidy Award will assess litter and waste management, graffiti, staining, bin provision and the buildings overall cleansing regime. It will also look at how effectively litter and waste messages are communicated to customers and visitors.

BCC member, Keep Britain Tidy, already runs two high profile awards; the Blue Flag Award for beaches, and the Green Flag Award for parks and the new award means that people managing shopping centres, transport hubs, business and leisure destinations, hospitals and town centres can also fly a flag that demonstrates they are creating a clean, attractive environment for the public.

The first three winners of this prestigious new award are; Bullring Shopping Centre in Birmingham, Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool and the Barbican Centre in London.

KBT Chief Executive, Allison Ogden-Newton, said, “We are delighted to be rewarding three such high-profile locations with our first Keep Britain Tidy Awards.

“Our National Perceptions Survey shows just how important clean, litter-free places are to people and all three award winners have demonstrated a commitment to creating a clean environment for their visitors and customers and have proved to our judges that they are managing their litter and waste responsibly.

“We hope that these three fantastic places will be the first of many to be flying a Keep Britain Tidy Award.”

Zed Major, Facilities Manager at the Barbican Centre, said: “It’s a great honour for The Barbican Centre to be awarded the accreditation from such a well-respected organisation as Keep Britain Tidy.