Warwickshire County Council leader George Finch is to call a summit with school bosses over litter-dropping children who are "not taught how to respect their communities".

Cllr Finch, speaking alongside MP Richard Tice at Reform UK's Cleaning up Britain press conference in Westminster on Wednesday, revealed plans to gather Warwickshire's headteachers and academy trust bosses to ask for their help in changing attitudes towards littering.

Mr Tice spoke of a national action day on Saturday, July 4, "led by elected representatives", to clean up parks and streets in their local areas.

John Read, founder and managing director of anti-litter and anti-fly tipping campaign group Clean Up Britain said his group had reached out to political parties online but that Reform UK had been the only one to answer his plea to prioritise this issue.

"That's why I am standing here today and that is why I am going to give them huge credit for understanding that this issue really matters to people all over the country," he said.

Speaking next, Cllr Finch said he had been in touch with Mr Read for "a few months" and paid tribute to his "outstanding" work.

"There are not many people across the country who really care about issues like this," said the county leader.

"A lot of people see it on a day-to-day basis but they don't necessarily talk about it because nothing ever gets done."

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Revealing plans to enact a civic pride charter for schools in Warwickshire, Cllr Finch said: "We are going to be bringing in all the education leads, like headteachers and chief executives of multi-academy trusts, to see what they can do.

"You cannot just put a sticking plaster on this. This needs cultural change and it starts with young people, it starts with the way they respect their communities.

"I have seen so many examples, kids walking through the town centre dropping litter with the bin (nearby). It is because they are not taught how to respect their communities, they live amongst it but it is as though they live separately in their minds to what is going on in their community. That needs to change.

"It starts with education and as the county council is the education authority there are things we can do with soft power and influence on bringing schools into the room."

Cllr Finch, who recently became leader of Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council on top of his county duties, also expressed frustration at road signs not being cleaned or left blocked by overgrown trees as well as graffiti and litter in green spaces.

"People are paying millions and millions in council tax year on year but services across the country are not doing what they should be," he added.

"Fly tipping blighting our country lanes and rural areas, we need to get that fixed. I have had so many people contact me about these issues.

"As a council, there is stuff we can do. We don't have to wait until the next general election, we already have 2,300 councillors and can do so much."

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He said that Warwickshire County Council's recently renewed highways maintenance contract had "put emphasis on cleaning our road signs, cutting back hedges, using community payback gangs".

He continued: "So they are basically the probation services and offenders, not just walking around going 'a road sign dirty there', they are actually cleaning them, they are actually cutting back hedges, they are actually doing it.

"They have caused offence to the community by being in the prison service and so on, but they are going to give back to their communities.

"That is exactly what we should be doing, having people who have just ruined their communities, committed crimes, should be giving back to (their) communities and that is what we are going to be enhancing across Warwickshire."