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Barnet Council’s seasonal leaf clearance

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Barnet Council’s Street Cleansing service has been carrying out leaf clearance work across the borough.

Digby, one of our Street Cleansing Driver Operatives, is part of Barnet's leaf-clearing team.

Digby, one of our Street Cleansing Driver Operatives, is part of Barnet's leaf-clearing team.

So far, they have:

  • collected over 120 tonnes of leaves - that’s the same as 20 elephants!
  • cleared leaves from over 900 roads across the borough and from all 21 town centres.

The work is being completed by dedicated specialist teams in addition to the existing street cleansing service. The teams have tackled the considerable challenge of leaf fall from over 45,000 trees on streets, in parks and other green spaces across the borough since early November.

Digby, one of our Street Cleansing Driver Operatives, has been working hard along with the rest of the teams clearing the leaf fall this season. He tells us how it’s been going in one of London’s leafiest boroughs:

“Mother nature’s autumn challenge of the trees dropping leaves… it is good to remove them asap because they can become a slip hazard. The job is more satisfying at this time of year as residents come up to us and thank us for the work we’re doing.”

Teams have been clearing leaves through manual sweeping and industrial vacuums with the support of mechanical street sweepers.

Councillor Dean Cohen, Chairman of the council’s Environment Committee, said:

“The efforts to keep the streets of Barnet clean and safe for residents throughout the leaf fall season has proven successful through the dedicated resource put in place by our Street Cleansing service. I’d like to thank them for their continued hard work to clear the high volume of leaf fall that our green borough experiences each year."

Emma Howard, Chair of Hampstead Garden Suburb Residents Association said:

“Thanks to the Barnet team for doing a great job on deep cleaning… it was so much cleaner.”

The council has posted updates on social media (@BarnetCouncil) showing the outcomes of the teams’ work throughout November and December.

Residents and businesses in the borough can continue to assist us in our efforts by not sweeping leaves from frontages, driveways and gardens on to the footway.

We are over halfway through our leaf clearing programme, however if you feel the leaves on your road require attention please let us know.

Work will continue through the month, so look out for the teams in your road! #cleanerbarnet