MIDDLEWICH'S streets have never been cleaner and much of the credit for the current condition of the town should go to a new team of litter vigilantes.

Janet Chisholm, a newsagent who has been campaigning for many years to have Middlewich cleaned up, has joined forces with other like-minded people in the town and formed the Middlewich Cleanup Team.

The aim of the group is to target areas of the town which have persistent litter problems and to inform the borough council of these problems, as well as taking action themselves to begin cleaning up the area.

There are now eight members of the team and Janet is already planning how to tackle the town's problems.

She said: "We have had discussions and are looking to involve the schools in the town. We are also going to keep the borough and town councils informed and will looking to them to provide some kind of encouragement for the children to keep the town tidy.

"This could perhaps be in the form of an award or prizes for the students who do the most to keep Middlewich clean and tidy."

Residents across the town have already noticed the benefits of the group's work but Janet has promised that this is just a precursor to the good work they can achieve.

She added: "This is going to be a real community effort and we want everyone to get involved. But this is just the start, once the town is clean we are going to ask Congleton Borough Council to come and power wash all the pavements so that Middlewich will be spotless."

The efforts of the team, who will soon be more noticeable as they plan to wear tabards bearing their name, can be seen at White Horse Alley where Maxine Wrench and her sister Keely picked up six bags of rubbish at the weekend.

The team's work has also seen results at The Kings Arms, Hightown, where council workers spent Tuesday morning clearing a backlog of litter from the car park.

Clr Bill Morris said: "The borough council took on board the request of the group to clean up the car park at the Kings Arms and hopefully know members of the public who use it as a short cut will be able to keep it in a good condition."

ghellam@guardiangrp.co.uk