Dirty old town: Walsall Council hiring more street cleaners as complaints rise

Walsall Council’s cabinet will meet next Wednesday to approve the hire of eight temporary street cleaners who will work across the borough between October and March in a £131,000 initiative.

They are also expected to agree to set aside around £141,000 to reinstate a budget for hiring agency staff to cover absences and ensure cleansing schedules are not affected.

The use of the Government’s High Street Community Clean-up funding of £20,000 to provide Community Payback, groups and volunteers with equipment to enable them to tackle issues in their areas is also set to be agreed.

A report to cabinet said the level of street cleaning across the borough had deteriorated due to cuts to budgets.

But as a result, the number of complaints from residents over issues including dead animals, dog fouling, litter, weed growth and even human waste has increased by 28 per cent in two years and is expected to continue to rise.

Between April 2017 and March 2018, the authority received a total of 5,802 complaints and this rose to 7,037 in the following municipal year.

In just four months between April and August this year, the council received 2,852 complaints and it is predicted that this will rise to around 7,415 by the end of March 2020.

A report to cabinet said there is a total of 50 operatives working across the borough carrying out "proactive and reactive maintenance" on different shift patterns.

But it added the lack of any cover for sickness, absences or training days sees a reduction in street cleaning.

A total of eight extra barrowmen will be deployed to wards in the borough that do not currently have the service.

The report said: “In the last seven years, there has been an increasing deterioration in the cleanliness of the borough due to the ongoing reduction of budgets and resources.

“The reduction in service has resulted in an increased number of customer complaints and contacts.

“The barrowmen would provide a visible presence for litter picking and other associated cleansing activities and will be targeted in known litter hot spot locations within the ward.

“Each ward will be scheduled to be visited within an eight-day cycle.

“There is currently no cover when street cleansing operatives are absent due to holiday, sickness or carrying out important mandatory training.

“Additionally on occasions, street cleansing operatives are utilised to support waste collections to maintain service delivery in this priority area.”

It added: “Councils can use one-off funding to support groups to buy tools such as litter pickers, gloves and brushes and provide training for residents on how to remove graffiti or tackle fly-tipping, as well as organise events to encourage more families to get involved.”