Data collected by the Audit Commission from all the local authorities in the area showed 24 per cent of Wakefield's land and highways were deemed 'dirty' in the 12 months following March 31 2006 – the worst result.

Wakefield Council has hit back at the report saying the figures are out of date and do not reflect the improvements being made across the district.

Tim Roache, regional secretary for trades union GMB, which represents street cleaners, said: "Overall we have seen a 14 per cent improvement in streets' cleanliness across England in the past year.

"But there are still too many councils not putting enough effort and resources into keeping their streets clean – and that has got to change."

GMB is calling for councils to employ more street cleaners and pay for them, in part, by imposing a levy on fast food outlets.

A council spokeswoman said the 24 per cent figure was old as it was given to the Audit Commission as the best value performance indicator result for 2006-07.

She said: "We have just completed the survey for 2007-08, which has shown a tremendous improvement.

"The new result is 11.06 per cent – a 13 per cent improvement – but we do not have information to compare with other authorities."

She said the council said it had made great strides in the past year to keep the district's streets clean and urged everyone who lived, worked and visited the area to take pride in the community. Anyone caught dropping litter risks a £50 fixed penalty.

The spokeswoman said: "In the past few months the council has achieved cleaner streets by improving performance through training, buying more street sweeping machines and targeting litter and debris hotspots.

"In particular, in Wakefield along with other areas, we have held clean-up initiatives. There has been a significant improvement in the Wakefield Express area. Further work is being undertaken as part of the planned transformation of the service to make sure improvements in the area continue to be made."