MONMOUTHSHIRE and Newport are the second and third dirtiest counties in Wales according to a report by Keep Wales Tidy.

The All Wales Local Environmental Audit and Management System (LEAMS) Report (How Clean are our Streets?) 2013/14 showed that Monmouthshire had a cleanliness indicator of 66, a decrease from 68.1 in 2012/13.

The cabinet member for county operations in Monmouthshire, councillor Bryan Jones said: "Unfortunately, these surveys only represent a time-sensitive snap shot of conditions and are not an in-depth assessment of performance. In fact, according to the latest council performance data published by Welsh Government, our performance is significantly higher.

"Having clean streets and an attractive environment remains a priority for this council; however, ultimately the biggest issue that needs address is changing people's behaviour to stop them dropping litter in the first place."

The dirtiest streets in Wales were found in Bridgend that had a cleanliness indicator of 65.7.

Newport had a cleanliness indicator of 66.7 for 2013/14 compared with the cleanest local authority, Pembrokeshire, which scored 73.4.

The survey is a snapshot of six per cent of randomly selected streets in each county across Wales which looked at litter, dog fouling, graffiti and vandalism.

The cleanliness of Newport has improved from last year when it had a cleanliness indicator of 65.7 and from 2007/08 when it had a cleanliness indicator of 55.5.

A Newport City Council spokeswoman, said: "Newport City Council colleagues work hard to keep Newport’s streets clean and to raise awareness of the issues caused by dropping litter. It is also vitally important that residents and visitors do their bit and help to keep Newport’s streets clean by putting their rubbish in a litter bin.

"While the council is pleased that it has seen an increase in the cleanliness of its streets, it recognises that there is still an improvement to be made and everyone can do their bit to ensure the next time the survey is done there is an improvement in Newport’s results."

The report findings show that the number of heavily littered streets in Wales has decreased, with the overall cleanliness indicator (CI) rising higher than ever before to 68.7, compared to 67.6 in 2012/13.

Dog fouling, graffiti, fly-posting and vandalism have all according to the report decreased on our streets since 2007/08. Smoking-related litter continues to be the most frequent type of litter found, although Wales has seen a reduction since the original 2007/08 survey.

Blaenau Gwent was the fourth dirtiest local authority in Wales with 66.9 which is an improvement on last year's 64 and Torfaen has been consistent from 2012 to 2014 with a cleanliness indicator of 67.4. This places the borough as the joint sixth dirtiest in Wales alongside Rhondda Cynon Taf and Cardiff.

Cleanliness in Caerphilly has increased from 66.7 in 2012/13 to 68 in 2013/14 making it the ninth dirtiest county in Wales.

Despite a general overall improvement, the report highlights the challenges and problem areas in Wales, with an increase in fast food litter on our streets since 2007-08.

Keep Wales Tidy has a day of action on dog fouling taking place on October 2. For more information visit www.keepwalestidy.org