The Committee has made strong progress in 2024/25, from improving how the Council responds to emergencies such as flooding or major incidents, and proposals for how it will respond to the national government requirement, from March 2026, to increase the types of materials that are recycled in the city.
Among the notable achievements this year were decisive actions against illegal trading and successful prosecutions, all undertaken to safeguard Sheffield’s residents, businesses, visitors, and animals. Highlights include tackling unsafe allotments where animals were kept unlawfully, a rogue roofer sentenced to prison following Council prosecution, and the seizure of thousands of illegal cigarettes and vapes by trading standards. Additionally, a shop owner investigated for selling illicit tobacco and vapes received a suspended sentence for illegal trading.
The backlog of food hygiene inspections, caused by the Covid pandemic, has been successfully cleared.
Targeted work to clean up the environment and keep Sheffield looking as clean and tidy as possible has continued, including the launch of a city-wide fly-tipping reduction strategy and fly tipping campaign, ‘Your rubbish, Your responsibility’ .
The ‘Environmental Stewardship Programme’ continued for another year, which saw 18 new young people, who were previously categorised as ‘Not in Employment, Education or Training’ (NEETs) spending 2 days a week with an Amey supervisor, clearing sites across the North-East, East and South-East of Sheffield. They repaired fencing, cut back hedges, painted out graffiti, deep-cleaned, litter picked and prepared previously unloved pockets of land for use by community groups.
This year too, licensing fees and pest control policies have been reviewed, and licensing services have been improved.
Successful work for the city by this committee also includes:
- Delivery of the biggest Christmas Market to date
- A Purple Flag award for a safe night-time economy for the thirteenth year in a row
- Awarding of Green Flag status for Pounds Park, one of 18 green flags awarded to Sheffield parks and woodlands in 2024/25
- Hosting of the first city-wide Street Scene Conference in over a decade
- The installation of new CCTV in Page Hall to support the wider approach to community cohesion and tackling fly-tipping.
- National recognition for the city’s street cleansing service, including nominations at both the Keep Britain Tidy and Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) National Awards, particularly for Sheffield’s innovative city centre cleaning model.
- Maintaining high standards of fly-tipping incident management by responding to over 14,000 fly-tipping reports on highways in the past year and ensuring 100% of fly-tipping incidents were removed within five working days of being reported.
- Achieved a 100% success rate in emptying litter bins within one working day of being reported.
- Enhancement of the city’s road surfacing programme, including a preventative programme along with standard life cycle improvements works leading to over 500,000m² of road surfacing works.
- The maintenance of a 0.02% landfill rate, increased composting, and the collection of 99.83% of bins on time
This year, the Committee and its officers have demonstrated what can be achieved through focused leadership, community partnership, and a commitment to working hard to improve cleanliness, enforcement, inspection and safety.
The remit of this Committee is far-reaching and impacts everyone, so this year’s achievements are so important. We will continue to build on the progress to date, making use of every opportunity that there is to deliver lasting improvements for Sheffield’s people and places.
Councillor Joe Otten, Chair of the Environmental Services and Regulation Policy Committee at Sheffield City Council
Looking ahead to 2025/26, the focus will be on embedding a series of targeted initiatives, which include:
- Launching a new neighbourhood improvement strategy across all communities, including littering and fly-tipping in ‘hotspot’ areas
- Expanding the Environmental Stewardship Programme to support local employment and environmental care
- Launching a new environmental improvement toolkit to make is clearer how SCC can help improve neighbourhoods and make it easier for residents and businesses to get improvements done, whilst sharing good practice.
- Strengthening Parking Services to support traffic flow and active travel
- Implementing the Environment Act’s waste requirements by March 2026, which includes proposed changes which will increase recycling rates in Sheffield
- Continuing to improve crime prevention and regulatory compliance
- Progressing the feasibility of a connection to Sheffield's District Energy Network into the Moor Market. Sheffield’s District Energy network provides low carbon heating to more than 120 buildings in the city centre. The heat source arises from the steam generated from the burning of black bin waste at our Energy Recovery Facility, which is transported to the connected building through 45 kilometres of underground pipes
- Progressing Heat Network Zones, working with Government to expand the number of connections to low carbon heat sources in the city, including District Heating
- Advancing climate change action through waste minimisation and biodiversity initiatives