Clean sweep

An extra street cleaner could be employed in Exmouth with a remit to keep tidy areas outside the town centre - including Brixington, Withycombe and Littleham.

The new town hall-funded employee could also act as a ‘parish lengthman’ – maintaining and fixing the town’s infrastructure, such as railings, seats, lights, bins, signs, painting and fittings.

The service could be paid for by £16,000 already allocated in the town council’s 2012/2013 budget for street cleaning.

It follows a report by Exmouth Tidy Group (ETG) and presented by Ian Kirvan and Norma Southwood to the town council’s general purposes committee.

The report listed 37 paths, play areas, streets and lanes in outlying areas that have been neglected.

Ms Southwood said: “It has become apparent over the last few years that, with the expansion of the town, the street cleaning provided by the district council is inadequate for the outlying areas

“Many footpaths, interconnecting walkways and some side-streets receive little or no attention.”

She said that, during a recent litter-pick, 15 members of the ETG collected 14 bags of rubbish and bagged dog excrement in an hour – equivalent to a single street cleaner working for three days a week.

She added: “A lot of this is the responsibility of EDDC and they should take responsibility and drive it forward.

“Don’t get me wrong, StreetScene do a great job, but they need to be steered towards a couple of things.”

Councillor Steve Wragg said that in the region of £400,000 had been spent on town management since its inception more than 10 years ago on.

He said: “Surely, we could spend some of that budget more sensibly than on churning out more literature and administration.”

Councillor Eileen Wragg said: “Before we start building more, we should look after what we have already got - and that has not always been the case.”

Deputy mayor John Humphreys said that even more should be spent. “I have always thought that £16,000 is just not enough.”

Councillor Mark Williamson said: “This is a somewhat unnerving report that is questioning the support the town gets from the two principle councils.

“I suggest this report goes to Exmouth Regeneration Board (EDDC).

“You cannot have regeneration on one hand, when you find decay and deterioration on the other.”