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Rubbish complaints not a waste of time
26/ 3/2008
THE BOROUGH’S cleanest streets may be down to the proactive residents who live on them.
That was the conclusion from a meeting of the council’s scrutiny committee in which councillors expressed concerns that residents who grumble the most about litter could see the most action to get things cleaned up.
The meeting included a presentation by corporate manager for Streetscene, Paul Morgan, which outlined the challenges faced by his staff.
Problems include clearing terraced areas of parked cars for cleaning and the tidying up of high speed roads with expensive lane closures.
Councillor David Mowat said: "Is it possible that those areas with the most proactive residents experience more frequent clean-ups than those with residents who don’t tend to complain?"
Paul Morgan agreed that this could be the case as there is a rapid response team at the town hall customer centre and, if something is reported, then the litter-picker zone teams are sent out and in this way the cleaning is complaint driven.
The scrutiny committee will look at whether street cleaning is prompted by reaction to complaints rather than by scheduled sessions.
Coun Ainsley Arnold questioned how often the cleaning teams are scheduled.
He said: "All areas should be cleaned on a six-week cycle but there is the indication that some areas are getting cleaned more than others because of the complaints that are made.
"In theory, complaints come in and a team is dispatched to that area.
"We are going to look at how complaints are handled at the customer centre, from someone phoning up and how the complaints are channelled, through to the clean up teams and the response that comes from this.
"We are also going to look at all staffing to make sure that we are providing the level of excellence we should be in keeping streets tidy.
"I certainly get complaints from my residents about litter and we want to try and solve this."
Most recent 2 of 3 user comments
Voice an opinion and you have some sad so and so berating you just for wanting a service which you pay through the nose for.
29/03/2008 at 12:31
Got an opinion you want to share?Motorists - are rising fuel prices tempting you to use public transport more?
Poll has now ended
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Let's have a proper debate about local priorities and funding, not an ill-informed rant.
31/03/2008 at 12:09