A NEW service which aims to deal with environmental problems quickly and efficiently has been launched in Stevenage. The Street Smart service which is run by Stevenage Borough Council will see environmental teams working in the community, tackling proble

A NEW service which aims to deal with environmental problems quickly and efficiently has been launched in Stevenage.

The Street Smart service which is run by Stevenage Borough Council will see environmental teams working in the community, tackling problems such as abandoned shopping trolleys in the town centre, full litter bins in a park or missed bin collections in a street

People can report problems like broken glass in a playground and the teams will get to the area quickly and deal with it.

John Healey, minister for local government, was in Stevenage last week to see the new service in action.

He said: "Street Smart is a great initiative. SBC shows that new things can be done in response to local issues and I'd like to see other councils follow their lead. It's a highly visible service so local residents will be able to call for help in dealing with eyesores that can drag a neighbourhood down."

Sharon Taylor, leader of Stevenage Borough Council, added: "Street Smart is part of our work to improve neighbourhoods and make our services more responsive to customers' needs."

"We wanted to make it as convenient as possible for people to report environmental problems so we introduced text messaging as another option for contacting us."

* To report a problem send a text message to 60066. Include the appropriate key word from the list of 11 below and tell the council exactly where the problem is.

In addition, if anyone can provide a photograph or video of the problem send it to

07786 203 993 along with a message.

Bin (to report missed rubbish collections)

Branches (to report fallen branches)

Drugs (to report drugs paraphernalia like needles)

Flytip (to report materials that have been dumped)

Glass (for broken glass)

Graffiti (for graffiti)

Litterbin (over-flowing litter bins)

Play (for glass, litter and unsafe play equipment in play areas)

Recycle (for missed recycling collections)

Shrubs (for shrubs that are causing obstruction)

Trolley (for abandoned shopping trolleys)