A quarter of the borough’s streets fail cleanliness standards, according to figures released this week.
Statistics obtained from the Audit Commission by trade union GMB, say Basingstoke and Deane is ranked thirtieth in a survey of dirtiest streets out of 346 local authorities. A total of 24% of land and highways assessed had unacceptable deposits of deritus, everything from mud to rotted leaves and plastic.
Prominent borough councillor Paul Harvey has told the Observer these figures are ‘disgraceful’ and called for sweeping changes. “This means a quarter of all streets in Basingstoke and Deane fails the standard for cleanliness of the environment. Key areas are worse than others and we have been telling he council this for years now that their managements of estates is failing. We are slowly seeing them realise this and respond to this but this tells us we are nowhere near the standard we should be.
“When it comes to the cleanliness of our streets, residents know it and can see it from their own homes. It’s disgraceful when it doesn’t have to be, it shows the management of the council is not delivering, they have not got the right approach to make the difference – they are failing. A quarter of all our streets are not up to standard and that makes us one of the worse performing in the South East.
“We want to see a joined up approach with the borough council, county council and hosing agencies to ensure it is looked after correctly. Rather than slashing at hedgerows with a chainsaw we need to ensure they are maintained. It is all well and good that the flowerbeds around the council beds are lovely but the rest of the borough needs to improve. There are hot spots that need looking after.”
Paul Kenny, GMB General Secretary commented: “There is an alarmingly high and dangerous level of dirty streets and pavements in far too many places. Local communities deserve clean and healthy environments.”
Cabinet Member for the Environment and Climate Change Cllr Elaine Still said: “Clean streets for our residents is a key priority for Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council. The figures from 2008/9 show 5% litter but our detritus level was 24%, which is disappointing. Detritus does include leaf and blossom falls and fragments of twigs, which the more rural areas will see higher levels of and is a characteristic of the borough . As always we are working hard to reduce these levels and it is pleasing that the most up to date figure for 2009/10 shows a reduction in the detritus level to 12%, which is significant compared to the 08/09 levels at 24%.”
