ADDITIONAL street cleaning resources are on their way to Helensburgh, the council has confirmed, after a resident complained about their condition.
Streets in the town centre are full of “grease and grime”, according to the resident, who contacted the Local Democracy Reporting Service to highlight the issue.
Helensburgh and Lomond councillors had been informed last month by an Argyll and Bute Council official that a street cleaning machine was due to visit the town.
The authority has now said that further resources will be available in the area, but encouraged the local population to help in the efforts to keep streets clean.
The resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “We have had a lovely summer with people sitting outside. We have also had visitors up from England.
“All of the visitors have seen pavements that are filthy, with grease and grime, and it just makes me ashamed. It is absolutely atrocious.
“It is like this all along the front and back streets. Along the front it is like that from Sinclair Street to William Street.
“Helensburgh is a nice town and we are trying to promote it and bring people to the town, but you look at the pavements and it is not nice.
“You go to Dumbarton and they have a road sweeper, and there has been talk of a street cleaning machine in Helensburgh, but I have not seen it yet.”
A council spokesperson said: “We are making arrangements just now to bring additional street cleaning resources to Helensburgh, to support the town during the busy holiday season.
“Generally we use a range of machines for street cleaning, but with limited resources and more than 500km of pavements across the area, we would encourage visitors and residents to work with us in keeping Argyll and Bute beautiful.”
READ MORE: Helensburgh 'overwhelmed with litter on busy summer days', says campaigner
During a discussion at Helensburgh and Lomond area committee’s virtual meeting on Thursday, June 17, council network and standards manager Hugh O’Neill said that a street cleaning machine, shared with Bute and Cowal, was due to be used in the area.
He told councillors: “Unfortunately it broke down last year as it was about to come to Helensburgh, and if it does that, we don’t have the resilience we once had.
“Programmes are exceptionally tight just now. The machine is at Dunoon at the moment, but will be coming back to Helensburgh.
“There are other councils in the same boat as us, running with a reduced fleet in order to comply with budgets.
“We also have issues just now regarding materials and stuff to come through, with some parts coming over from Germany, so it is taking a bit longer than usual.”
READ MORE: Catch up with all the latest Helensburgh and Lomond news headlines here
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel