Savage cuts to street sweeping teams in Fife have left the region looking like a “refuse tip”, it has been claimed.
Councillors on the environment, finance and communities scrutiny committee have expressed concerns about the situation after it emerged that around 60 street sweeping posts have been axed to save cash.
Fife Council has defended the move, saying it is necessary to help meet the local authority’s well-documented shortfall over the coming years.
But many fear a greater reliance on mechanical sweepers ahead of manpower is having a marked effect on cleanliness in parks, streets and open spaces.
“Fife is beginning to look like a refuse tip and it’s getting worse and worse and worse,” said councillor Ross Vettraino, who represents the Glenrothes Central and Thornton ward.
“There is no way we can continue to maintain standards when savings are being made through a reduction in employee costs, and to my mind it would be much more efficient to replace the mechanical sweepers with a man with a barrow.”
Worries about cleaning standards have been raised after a report revealed that the council is on course to save £576,000 this year through increased provision of mechanical sweepers throughout Fife.
A further saving of £464,000 is forecast through the “managed reduction” of the council’s parks, streets and open space workforce.
Mr Vettraino added: “The increased provision of mechanical sweepers is not an efficiency saving because it’s clear the service is suffering. We need to pause and give this some thought.”
In response, Damien Woods, the council’s service manager for parks, streets and open spaces, pointed out that Fife was one of the better performing local authorities in terms of cleanliness.
“I suppose it’s public perception versus reality,” he noted.
Mr Woods added: “The days of street sweepers walking around with a barrow are long gone, I’m afraid,” he continued.
“There’s no point putting someone on a barrow when we can have that area covered faster using a mechanical sweeper.”