Despite having pledged in 2014 to sweep Merton’s roads each week, Merton Labour have now sounded the final death knell for the weekly clean of residential streets in the borough. At last week’s Full Council meeting (12th April 2017) it was confirmed there will no longer be weekly sweeping of all residential roads in Merton after Labour councillors rejected a Conservative motion calling on them to look at alternative options to retain the service.
As from the beginning of this month, Labour-run Merton Council has handed over operational responsibility for street cleaning in Merton to contractor, Veolia, under an agreement reached as part of the South London Waste Partnership. Yet, as chaos reigns in neighbouring Sutton following Veolia’s introduction of new waste collection and street cleaning systems there, it has been revealed that not only is Merton’s weekly street clean being abolished but massive cuts are also being made to the number of street cleaners deployed across the borough.
Cllr Daniel Holden - Conservative Spokesman for Transport, Parking and Cleaner Streets - said:
"First Labour want to scrap the weekly bin collection. Now they are binning the weekly street clean.
"Merton's streets are littered with Labour's broken promises but they don't seem to care. They are refusing to listen to the residents they were elected to serve.
“Time and again people complain to me about litter in the streets. Yet under Labour's new contract with Veolia Merton is seeing a 39% cut in the number of street cleaners compared to 2014. Rather than delivering savings through efficiencies, Merton Labour’s financial incompetence means residents are facing further service reductions to close the budget gap.
“Residents want cleaner streets and we will continue pushing for alternatives that guarantee the weekly street sweep, preferably straight after the refuse collection.”
ENDS
Note to Editors:
- At the 2014 local council elections, one of Merton Labour’s 5 ‘promises for the next 4 years’ stated:
“Respecting this community means sweeping your road each week”
- In the most recent Annual Residents’ Survey conducted in Merton, litter and dirt in the streets was the top concern for residents, cited by a third of respondents.
- Figures from the council have revealed that, under the new street cleaning system operated by Veolia from April 2017, there will be just 35 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) street cleaners deployed across Merton. This compares to 57 FTE street cleaners in April 2014. Further cuts to the number of street cleaners by Veolia have not been ruled out.
- The full Conservative motion can be viewed at the following link:
https://democracy.merton.gov.uk/documents/s17029/Conservative%20Motion%20-%20Street%20cleaning.pdf