How about Sooty and Sweep? Could you name Oldham's two new road sweepers?

Dust off your thinking caps - Oldham Council is giving residents the chance to name its two new road sweepers.

The Council has recently added the 10.5 tonne Johnston Sweepers to its fleet of vehicles that travel the borough picking up waste and debris that has been left on roads, pavements, open places and streets.

The Council has decided to run a competition and want you to come up with names for the street cleaners – litter-ally.

You can send in one name or as many as you want.

Once the winning entries have been chosen, the Council will then brand the vehicles and you’ll be able to look out for them as they travel around the borough cleaning up grime.

If you think you can do better than Sooty and Sweep, Greta Garbage, Trigger (from Only Fools and Horses), Basil Brush, Dusty Rhodes (wrestler) or Dustin Timberlake, then get your entries sent in.

Councillor Arooj Shah, Oldham Council’s Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood Services, said: “In recent years we’ve had a great response to our name the gritter competitions, and hopefully we’ll get the same this time round.

“We’ve always treated these competitions as a bit of fun but at the same time they also helped us raise awareness among our young people about how we keep our roads safe and clear in cold weather.

“Sadly road sweepers are an everyday sight across the country because people continue to drop litter and then local authorities have to clear up the mess – costing taxpayers’ ever year.

“If people did their bit and put their litter in a street bin, or took it home with them, then Oldham would be a lot cleaner and greener and recycling rates would increase.

“By naming these sweepers we hope people will make them think more about waste, littering and recycling.

“All we ask is that you try and keep your entries clean, and nothing dirty!”

Recently Oldham Council agreed to invest an extra £600,000 into street cleaning annually.

The Council is also encouraging residents to show they ‘Love Where They Live’.

To find out more about how you can do #yourbit and get involved visit: https://www.oldham.gov.uk/cleanstreets

Send your entries to: @OldhamCouncil or via facebook at @loveoldham.

You can also email: environmentalservices@oldham.gov.uk with your suggestions along with your name, address and contact phone number.

The competition runs from today (Monday) until Monday, November 5 at 12pm.

If you live, study or work in Oldham you are eligible to enter.

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