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Number of Dundee street cleaners falls by more than a quarter since 2015

The figures come after a survey carried out by The Courier found more than half of respondents felt the cleanliness of the city’s High Street was “poor” or “very poor".

By Laura Devlin

July 12 2024, 6:00am

The figures were obtained from the environment management team. Image: DC Thomson.

The number of street cleaners employed by Dundee City Council has fallen by more than a quarter since 2015.

Figures from the local authority’s environment management team reveal that in the nine year period between 2015 and 2024, the number of full time equivalent street cleaners – excluding rapid response personal – dropped from 110 to 71.

This represents a decline of 35%.

The number of ground maintenance staff at the local authority also declined in the same period, falling from 132 in 2015 to 105 this year – a reduction of 20%.

Additional funding pledge

The figures, obtained by the Liberal Democrats, come after an exclusive survey carried out by The Courier found more than half of respondents felt the cleanliness of the city’s High Street was “poor” or “very poor”.

A public budget consultation survey carried out by Dundee City Council last year also highlighted that many respondents felt that “numbers of visible street cleaners had reduced in recent years”.

This led to council leader John Alexander pledging an additional £200,000 to help clean up the city, with him admitting cleanliness in Dundee had “taken a dip”.

John Alexander took part in The Courier’s high street summit, where he detailed the funding pledge. Image: Mhairi Edwards/DC Thomson.

The finances will support five activities across the city, including recruiting four temporary street cleaning staff on a six-month contract and the external hire of a sweeping contractor.

Additional litter bins and city-wide skip provision and waste disposal will also be funded through the pledge.

‘Short-termism is all we ever get’

But Liberal Democrat councillor Fraser Macpherson, who represents the West End ward, said the pledge was “just not good enough” and called for more longer-term solutions.

“No one group has all the answers”, he said.

“But you raise issues around the (council’s) failure to properly resource environment management but the situation continues to get worse.

“Short-termism is all we ever get. There urgently needs to be political leadership to resource environment management properly the situation will never improve long-term.”

Councillor Fraser Macpherson at the high street summit. Image: Mhairi Edwards/DC Thomson.

When asked by The Courier why there had been a reduction in the number of street cleaners since 2015, a council spokesperson highlighted the additional funding pledge.

They added: “The extra funding is earmarked for a range of activities aimed at positively contributing to the city’s environment including the recruitment of additional seasonal staff and supporting the ongoing community clean-up works.

“This budget investment will allow four temporary street cleaning staff for a six-month period this financial year, with their efforts focused specifically on the city-centre area.

“This additional budget will support the external hire of a sweeping contractor for city-wide work and the hire of a deck scrubber to carry out cleaning of public spaces in the city centre area and the associated shopping district.

“Funding will also support our Take Pride in Your City campaign, with funding for community clean-up initiatives and investment in litter bins which will be distributed throughout the city.”