Council teams blitz St James's Street 7am to noon on Monday 28 September. Residents on the street and roads off it can dump one bulky item free, with ID.

Council cleaning teams will descend on St James’s Street on Monday 28 September, from 7am to 12 noon, and residents living on the street or the roads directly off it can get rid of one bulky household item for nothing. Brighton & Hove City Council announced the community clean-up on Friday 25 September.

It is the council’s next Community Clean Up Day, a format that brings several services to one neighbourhood for a morning. St James’s Street runs east from the Old Steine into Kemptown.

What the teams will do

The council says its crews will spend the morning:

  • removing graffiti, stickers and posters
  • litter picking and sweeping
  • deep cleaning pavements and public spaces
  • weeding streets and pavements, according to the clean-up days page

Council officers and Sussex Police will be on the street to talk to residents and businesses about waste and local environmental problems. Businesses can ask about the council’s new commercial graffiti removal service and its trade waste collections. The council is also asking traders to help by litter picking and cleaning around their own premises.

Anyone can turn up to help. The council says equipment and support will be provided.

St James's Street community clean-up, Monday 28 September 2026, 7am to 12 noon. Free bulky waste amnesty: one item per household for residents of St James's Street and the roads directly off it, at three drop-off points, with proof of address and photo ID. Accepted: armchairs, microwaves, mattresses, beds, carpets. Not accepted: bags of rubbish, business waste, building rubble, garden waste, paint and chemicals, tyres.
Graphic by The Brighton Times
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The free bulky waste drop-off

This is the part worth planning for.

The rules, as the council has published them:

  • Who: residents living on St James’s Street and the roads directly off it
  • How much: one bulky item per household
  • Where: one of three designated drop-off points on the day. The council’s clean-up page says the locations “will be listed here closer to the event”. They had not been published when this article went up on Friday afternoon.
  • When: during the event, 7am to 12 noon
  • Identification: the news release says “proof of address or photo identification”. The event page says “proof of address and photo ID”. Bring both and you cannot be turned away on that point.

The council gives these as examples of what it will take:

  • armchairs
  • microwaves
  • mattresses
  • beds
  • carpets

It will not take:

  • bags of household rubbish
  • waste from businesses
  • multiple smaller items placed in a bag or box
  • loose DIY or building waste, rubble or hardcore
  • garden waste or soil
  • paint, chemicals or hazardous waste
  • tyres
  • multiple dismantled items presented together

Staff will be at the drop-off points to help.

What the council says

Councillor Tim Rowkins, the Cabinet member for Net Zero and Environmental Services, said in the release: “Council teams are out across Brighton & Hove every day cleaning streets, removing graffiti, collecting waste and helping to keep public spaces welcoming for everyone. But every now and again, we like to arrive in force and blitz a whole area.”

He added: “By bringing council staff, local businesses and residents together, we can make a visible difference in St James’s Street and show what can be achieved.”

The council says it will take before-and-after photographs and record data on the day to measure the effect.

What it means for you

  • If you live on or just off St James’s Street: Monday is the cheapest way you will get to shift a mattress, a bed, an armchair or a roll of carpet this year. Check the clean-up page on Monday morning for the three drop-off locations, and take a photo ID and something with your address on it.
  • If you live elsewhere in the city: the amnesty is not for you. The council’s standard bulky waste collection is the route, or the tips. Our page on Brighton tip opening times has the hours.
  • If you run a business on the street: officers will be there to talk about trade waste and the commercial graffiti service. Business waste will not be accepted at the amnesty points.
  • If you are driving or parking: the council has not announced any road closure or parking suspension for the morning. Expect council vehicles and cleaning crews on the street from 7am. Our parking in Brighton page covers the nearby car parks.
  • If you want to report a mess elsewhere: graffiti, fly-tipping and street cleaning problems go through the council’s report a problem page, and your normal collection days are on our bin collection days page.

Sources