RESIDENTS are being promised a big improvement in the state of city streets when a council-led summer clean-up gets underway.

Brighton and Hove City Council has announced plans for a summer clean-up of city streets set to start next week.

The clean-up will be led Cityclean and four new specialist machines for removing chewing gum and grime from pavements.

But the authority said it will be working with residents and groups to spruce up their neighbourhoods with a series of community led action days.

The council say community cooperation projects between residents and council teams has led to the clearing away of 25 bags of rubbish removed by volunteers from Manor Road playground in Brighton this month.

The playground benches and railings were also repainted while Active Sussex are to repair the park’s table tennis table.

Next month council staff and residents will work together in Whitehawk to clear, weed, tidy and scrub the estate’s gutters, pavements, pedestrian passageways and roadsides with similar projects to follow across the city.

The council has said that the clean-up project will begin around the Clock Tower and St James’s Street areas next week followed by East Street, Bartholomew Square, West Street, and King’s Road on August 10.

Later clean-ups will be held around the North Laine, Old Steine, North Street, George Street, Hove Railway Station, Church Road and Western Road.

The clean-ups will continue in September in Queen’s Road, Portland Road, Lewes Road and London Road.

The council has said it will follow-up its summer community-clear up days with a new 12-month cleaning schedule to ensure “standards are maintained”.

Councillor Gill Mitchell, chairwoman of the environment, transport and sustainability committee, said: “Keeping our city streets clean will always be challenging, particularly during the busy summer months, but by investing in new machinery and introducing a revised cleaning schedule, we are confident that residents and visitors should soon see a big improvement.

“The recent Big Beach Clean highlighted the huge amount of goodwill from residents and businesses to work together to improve the environment.

“We are pleased to be able to build on this success and work with residents and community groups in other parts of the city to improve their neighbourhoods.”