Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman joined TV personality and Keep Britain Tidy ambassador Kirstie Allsopp in a clean up at a Croydon estate on Monday.

The pair travelled to Brickfield Meadow, East Croydon, to participate in a litter clean-up as part of the Love Where You Live campaign.

Love Where You Live has been launched to encourage people to take pride in their neighbourhood and to take action to improve the place where they live, work and play.

The estate project is being spearheaded by Safer Neighbourhoods officer PC Phil Daly, who has organised a number of clean-up events since starting working with the community six months ago.

Mrs Allsopp said: "It is people like PC Daly and the hundreds of other unsung heroes who are taking action to improve their communities, who show just what Love Where You Live can mean in practice.

"I am delighted the residents of Christie Drive and surrounding roads have allowed us to support their clean-up and hope other people will follow their example and see what a difference it can make when people start working together."

Croydon Councillor Sara Bashford, cabinet member for customer services, culture and sport, added: "We have seen a lot of people adopt the 'Love Croydon' slogan over the last couple of months, so it's really appropriate to see this national campaign being launched here.

"I am really pleased to see so many people turn out to help with this clear-up. This is a lovely green space and it's fantastic to see it spruced up."