PLANS to cut the county’s street cleansing budget has been reconsidered following feedback from the public.
It was originally proposed to reduce the budget by £232,000; however, following an extensive public consultation exercise, the council’s Executive Board decided to cut it by just half that amount at £116,000.
Keeping the county’s streets clean is not only important to residents, but is one of the council’s top priorities.
Carmarthenshire streets are amongst the cleanest in Wales and the council is determined to keep it that way.
Executive Board Member for Technical Services Cllr Colin Evans said: “Clean streets are important to residents and they give a good impression to visitors, which is extremely important in a county like Carmarthenshire which attracts a high number of tourists.
“Making sure the county clean and safe is a high priority, and this is why we have decided not to reduce the budget by such a large amount.”
It costs the council around £2million a year to clean up Carmarthenshire and on average around 40 tonnes of rubbish is removed every week.
The council is now calling on the support of residents to help save money by not dropping litter in the first place and to report those that do.
Executive Board Member for Environmental and Public Protection Cllr Jim Jones said: “If people didn’t drop litter in the first place, we wouldn’t have to spend such a large amount of money cleaning up our streets.
“I am appealing to the public to please use the litter bins provided or to take their rubbish home with them. They can also help by reporting anyone they see dropping litter.
“Our enforcement officers regularly carry out patrols across the county and anyone they catch dropping litter or failing to clean up after their dog can be fined £75.
“We have adopted a zero tolerance approach towards litter and will not hesitate to take action against those that break the law in this way.”
The council must save £12million next financial year and around £31million over the next three years.
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