A new cleansing taskforce is expected to make inroads into tackling the litter and graffiti issues which have dogged Belfast city centre in recent months.
It follows a slew of complaints from businesses and the public about areas looking rundown and unattractive due to litter lying around, graffiti sprayed all over them or in some cases rats roaming the streets.
Retail NI Chief Executive Glyn Roberts said it was important to get the issue sorted to give the city the best chance of thriving.
Read more: Belfast "escalating" litter problem to be tackled by Cleansing Task Force
"This city has huge potential, we believe it could be in the top 10 retails destinations of the UK," he said.
"City centre has moved on from a very, very difficult patch, we're seeing new investment, we're seeing new retailers start, we've exciting developments with Ulster University and so many students who are going to be living here.
He said that his members had been frustrated by the growing problem, which would see food wrappers and other rubbish thrown on the city's streets and not dealt with promptly.
"It's not a good look and we've seen a lot of traders in the city centre working hard to bring people in after two and a bit years of various lockdowns," he said.
"It is of concern to our members and it is welcome that the council has established the taskforce so I would hope that that would deliver results.
"I think there is an expectation considering how much our residents contribute to the rates of Belfast that this cleanliness taskforce will be able to turn this around.
"But ultimately I think we've got to make an appeal to those people who work in the city centre, who socialise, who visit and shop that they need to make sure that they're using the bins too.
"It is everybody's responsibility though, we're not interested in playing the blame game, we're interested in getting a solution.
"That is so important, as ultimately that's how we're going to solve this."
Sinn Féin councillor Ciaran Beattie said that progress was already being seen even ahead of the cleansing taskforce's first meeting later this month.
"We were getting a lot of complaints that rubbish and litter wasn't removed as quickly as it should be," he said.
"So this is where the cleansing taskforce came out of and it's all political parties on that as well as senior cleansing teams.
"And in the interim, cleansing teams have been out and they're going above and beyond to get the streets looking better.
"We think there's been a big improvement but there's a bit to go yet."
He said ways of more accurately reporting problems had been considered already by the taskforce and more would come from the taskforce's meetings.
"We'd like to see more inspectors out on foot as well - some of them are going around in vans and naturally you can't see as many issues than if you were out on foot," he said.
"All parties are represented on the taskforce, there will be ideas coming forward, updates on where the city is at, where there are gaps and what we can do to plug those.
"We would like to see the city coming back to where it should be and we'll make sure it ends up there."
Read more: Belfast businessman says sight of filthy and rundown city centre is 'absolutely heartbreaking'
Read more: Belfast residents disgusted after more than 30 rats found in alleyway in a month
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