OXFORD should be looking extra tidy after this year’s OxClean Spring Clean – with a record number of schools already taking part.

Seventeen schools will join 57 community groups which have also signed up for the March 6 and 7 litter blitz.

Each group nominates a place in the city it wants to tackle.

Last year, 1,500 volunteers turned out to clean up streets, playing fields, car parks, river banks, schools, recreation grounds and bicycle pathways across the city.

This year’s clean-up is being formally launched tomorrow by Lord Mayor Susanna Pressel at the Cherwell School in North Oxford, joined by Oxfordshire Lord Lieutenant Tim Stevenson and Oxford Civic Society chairman Tony Joyce.

Ros Weatherall, of the Civic Society, said: “In addition to cleaning up Oxford over the weekend, the objective behind OxClean Spring Clean 2009 is to raise people’s awareness of litter so the city stays cleaner and tidier throughout the year. “ For groups still to decide which litter hot spots to tackle, the society has produced its own list of “grot-spots” badly in need of a clean-up.

The list includes Oxpens car and lorry park, Oxford & Cherwell Valley College and Bulwarks Lane, between Nuffield and St Peter’s College. Other sites include the Union Street car park, Bartlemas Close, Jesus, Oriel and Lincoln college playing fields, and the area around St Gregory the Great School.

For details on how to take part, go to oxclean.org.uk news@oxfordmail.co.uk