Tories claim council plans to cut £200,000 worth of street cleaning (From Harrow Times)

Leader of Harrow's Conservative group claims Harrow Borough Council plans to cut street cleaning

2:40pm Monday 4th February 2013 in News By Emma Innes

Susan Hall claims the council is "keeping residents in the dark"

More than £200,000 is to be cut from Harrow Borough Council’s street cleaning budget, according to the leader of the Conservative group.

Councillor Susan Hall claims that £116,000 will be cut through a reduction in non-town centre sweepers and a further £82,000 will come from cutting the cleaning of residential streets.

Cllr Hall claims that the council plans to reduce the frequency of residential street cleaning from once every four weeks to once every six weeks.

The cuts are part of the council’s draft budget, which is set to be approved later this month.

Cllr Hall said: “There are several issues here; the first being that Labour tried to keep residents in the dark about these cuts for as long as possible.

“The budget gives no details on what specific public realm services would be cut, and portfolio holder Cllr Phillip O’Dell refused to tell me when I asked him at cabinet in December.

“Labour have also blocked us seeing the relevant background papers until after the budget goes to council in late February. So they’ve tried every trick to keep these cuts a secret.”

She continued: “Secondly, for Labour to make this cut after the noise they made about street cleaning in the past is nothing short of appalling.

“In their manifesto they said ‘look around Harrow… shabby streets, not swept properly… neglect everywhere’, and they said this when our street cleaning had never been better – when many streets were cleaned every three weeks.

“Now they’re going to slash and burn at the budget which funds the very cleaning they claim to value so much.”

The Harrow Times is awaiting a comment from Harrow Borough Council.