Cleaner Image For Our Street Cleaners!

Forget the traumas of the long awaited Government spending cuts that are soon to be announced...at least Godalmings' street cleaners will  have new uniforms and a Waverley Cleaning Crew that will tackle cleaning issues across the communities.

It's all part of  Waverley Borough Councils' plan to invest in a new clean image for our strets with  even more funding has been made available during the autumn to clear up leaves that have fallen which often block drains and go on to cause flooding.

In total, Waverley is set to invest an extra £73,000 into street cleaning while the £3,000 for street cleaners’ new uniforms has been paid for by the council’s street cleaning contractor Veolia Environmental Services.

The new Waverley Cleaning Crew is made up a two people using a vehicle to visit each of the 21 parishes in the borough on a regular basis to tackle the street cleaning issues of concern to the local communities. This could be, for example, wiping down a village bus stop and cutting the grass edges near a phone box to improve the appearance for the area.

Cllr Bryn Morgan, (Cons) councillor responsible for the environment at Waverley Borough Council, said: “Our towns and villages are attractive places and this investment will mean they stay that way and get even better. As we enter the autumn and winter seasons, there is always more work to be done, and in particular in clearing leaves before they mulched and start blocking drains, leading to flooding.

“Street cleaners are already doing more work in rural areas and village centres as well as their existing duties in our town centres. We have worked in partnership with Veolia to increase street cleaning but the call for these improvements came from residents. They told us there were some areas where we could do better and we have acted. We are keen to continue getting feedback from the communities and postcard style comment cards are available for people top say how well they feel an area has been cleaned.”

It will be great to have a cleaner look to our streets....but is this an investment too far when we are all expecting the worst in the forthcoming spending cuts?