NEWLY published figures show Hounslow's streets are getting cleaner.

The Keep Britain Tidy Group carried out an independent survey in local authority areas across the country, looking at litter, detritus, graffiti and fly-posting, and Hounslow showed a significant improvement on last year.

The inspectors assessed the cleanliness of randomly selected streets, green spaces and car parks.

The contents of litter bins were also used as 'adverse environmental indicators'.

Councillor Brabara Reid, the council's lead member for environment, said: "This survey is all about measuring the cleanliness of the local environment as a member of the public would see it.

"Therefore I am delighted that we have made real progress in this vitally important area.

"Street cleaning and litter removal have always been top priority for us and halving the amount of graffiti around the borough is clear to everyone."

Figures for 2009/10 show that Hounslow's score out of 100 for litter has decreased from 16 to 12.

Graffiti is also down from 15 to seven since 2008/9.

The leader of the council, Councillor Peter Thompson, said: "Never again must graffiti become the scourge of communities it once was."