Anger over street cleaning depite a spend of £1.8m in the city over the last year

It comes after one resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said they hadn’t seen a Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council street sweeper in their area ‘for some time’.

And at a recent meeting of the Environmental Services Committee it was revealed that the council had missed their street cleansing target by over 20% for 2019/20.

It is understood that factors including vehicle breakdowns and limited staff availability were among the reasons for the missed target.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Scheme, the resident said they were ‘fed up’ with their area being ‘left to rot’ and called for those in charge to ‘do something about it’.

The Lisburn Castlereagh Council said that not all routes had been covered due to ‘limited resources’ being available.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson added that a rise in household waste took priority with street cleansing staff and others being re-deployed as a result.

In a statement, the council said: “Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council employ ten street sweepers.

“They work every day carrying out street cleansing and maintenance duties across the entire council area.

“The council keeps a detailed record of their work.

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Council has had to prioritise its resources to meet essential services.

“As always, our number one priority is the collection of bins from our 59,000 residents’ homes.

“Due to some absences, a number of Street Sweepers were redeployed to assist with bin collections.

“Recognising the temporary reduction in street sweeping during the quarter, additional staff resources were allocated to street sweeping from January.

“Plans are in place to increase street cleansing resources in line with need.

“Whilst the pandemic remains with us, and for as long as the Council’s emergency plan is activated, operational arrangements will be kept under constant review.”