THE North-East is the dirtiest region in England, outside of London, according to a new survey.

More than half of North-East streets, housing estates and shopping areas were rated unsatisfactory by Encams, formerly Keep Britain Tidy. Yorkshire was the third worst region.

The cleanest region was the East of England, followed by the South-East.

The study scoured 11,900 sites across the nation looking at 12 different land uses and rating sites good, satisfactory, unsatisfactory or poor.

Standards had improved since last year and the North-East was deemed good at emptying public bins and dealing with flyposting, graffiti and fly-tipping.

Nationally, the cleanest places were parks and picnic areas, rural roads and leafy-lane housing estates.

In contrast, crowded neighbourhoods were rated second dirtiest and had serious problems, as did local shopping precincts.

Paul Pearce, chairman of the British Cleaning Council, which represents the nation's cleaning industry, said: "Bus and train stations can give a poor first impression to visitors, as can many showcase areas in our towns and cities.

"The fact that streets across the North-East are covered in obstructions also means it is impossible for our cleaners to get in and do their job properly.

"With late-night litter on the increase, cleaning has become a 24-hour operation and I would like to see pubs and clubs put their hands in their pockets and pay to help us remove this rubbish."