Council urged to solve cleansing '˜disparity'

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council has been asked to find an immediate solution to a 'disparity' in the area's street cleansing rota.
Council says most areas receive similar frequency of street cleansing.Council says most areas receive similar frequency of street cleansing.
Council says most areas receive similar frequency of street cleansing.

It follows complaints that some towns and village are being attended to only every two months while others are addressed on a weekly basis.

Speaking after raising the legacy issue at a meeting of council, Councillor Cathal McLaughlin said: “At the minute different towns and villages are getting a much different street cleaning service from the Causeway Coast and Glens Council based on which of the four previous councils they were in.

“Villages in the old Ballymoney Council area such as Cloughmills, Dunloy, Rasharkin , Loughgiel, etc have their housing developments swept and cleaned only once every eight weeks, whereas in villages the same size in the old Moyle Council this service is carried out on a fortnightly basis. In the Coleraine and Limavady areas it is actually done weekly. I think this disparity of service provision is unacceptable.

“A number of years after the amalgamation of the councils people should be getting equality of service. Ratepayers have a right to be treated equally no matter what part of the council area they live in.”

The Sinn Fein representative added he has asked officers to address this situation and “they have agreed to review the process and come back to council quickly with a solution”.

A spokesperson for the local government authority explained it was seeking to harmonise the operation.

“Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council have dedicated teams of street cleansing staff who take great pride in making the towns and villages as clean and tidy as possible for those who live, work and visit our area,” said the spokesperson.

“Prior to the council forming, a decision was taken to continue with the existing level of street cleansing that existed in the legacy councils until a service review was undertaken. The majority of towns and villages receive a similar standard and frequency of cleansing, however, some harmonisation is required for housing sites and rural roads.

“Over the next number of months options will be considered for future street cleansing and once completed it will be presented to the Environmental Services committee for consideration.”