Galway has seriously upped its game in the litter stakes with the latest survey giving the best result in years, leading to the capital of the West being declared the second cleanest city in the country.

The suburb of Ballybane, which gets a separate audit, has also greatly improved it performance with a huge effort at previous black spots driving it up the table by five places to 30th out of 40 places assessed.

The city centre was 19th – officially classified as clean to ‘European Norms’ and second only to the smaller city of Waterford, according to the report commissioned by business alliance Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) and carried out by the environment watchdog An Taisce.

“An excellent result for Galway City –  one of its best – with 15 out of the 25 sites surveyed getting the top litter grade. Not only was it a great result, but previously heavily littered sites had improved significantly, such as Galway University Hospital and Eyre Square,” gushed the judges.

Among the highlights mentioned in the report were the canal and board walks, bridges, Cappagh Park, Barna Wood, Toft Playground and the two streets in the city with the highest footfall – Shop Street and Cross Street.

One perennial litter blackspot at Westside Amenity Park prevented the city from getting a higher ranking. It was the only one to get a ‘D’ and branded “by far the most heavily littered site surveyed” in Galway City.

While the facilities within the park, such as the playground, running track and PE equipment were in good condition, there were heavy levels of food rubbish, with lower levels of alcohol cans, bottles and cigarette butts – much of it thrown in the high grass.

Pictured: Cross Street: ‘Plenty of provisions for outdoor dining and drinking, but no litter directly associated with them.’ PHOTOS: JOE O’SHAUGHNESSY.