New figures reveal that the cost of contract cleaning services in Leicestershire last year reached £7 million.
The county’s local authorities said the figure, using taxpayers’ money, was used to clean local streets and remove litter from local areas, reports the Leicester Mercury.
Leicester’s city council alone spent £4.26 million on street cleaning in the financial year to March – £189,000 more than in the previous 12 months.
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council spent £732,000 last year on street cleaning services, while North West Leicestershire District Council’s budget hovered around £725,000.
Councillor Sarah Russell, the city council’s environment spokeswoman, said the figure spent on cleaning is “staggering”.
“Our idea always has been to improve our enforcement work so that we can start to spend less on street cleaning in the future,” she said. “The money could then be used for something else.”
“We have a real challenge to change people’s attitudes, getting people to accept dropping litter isn’t acceptable.”
She added that the council needs to make people realise that every time they drop litter, everybody has to pay to clean it up.
Leicester’s street litter and sweeping services are currently the responsibility of the local district councils.
Posted by Paula Huzjak
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