THE council is set to trial using a dedicated team to clean and spruce up some of the most important and high profile routes into the city.

Worcester City Council wants to use £100,000 to tackle litter and improve methods of cleaning - including installing more and larger litter bins - and employing a team of council staff to regularly litter pick busy roads including large parts of the A4440 Southern Link Road as well as the A38 and A44 running through the city centre.

The work is being carried out alongside the council's plans to improve litter bins and recycling throughout the city centre.

When the clean-up project was first discussed, the council's environment committee suggested using half of the money to trial new ways of doing things with the other half going on real improvements - such as buying new bins and improving signs.

The council could spend around £40,000 on trialling a 'highways cleansing' team made up of two workers - plus a vehicle and equipment - dedicated to working on strategic and arterial routes in the city.

The trial would last for around nine months from July until March 2020.

The council is also looking at bringing in specialists to litter pick on high-speed roads - 50 miles per hour and above - without having to close at least part of the road

A breakup of the £100,000 fund would include the money for the two members of staff, around £44,000 to replace litter bins, around £8,000 to pay for improved litter bins in laybys along the A449 and £5,000 for improving signs and street furniture.

Dual carriageways are currently only cleaned and litter picked around twice a year by the city council when part of the roads are closed for Worcestershire County Council to mow the verges and trim hedges.