Belfast City Council are to look at setting up a dedicated cleansing “task force” following growing concerns about littering in the city centre as well as missed collections and fly tipping.
At the council’s Standards and Business Committee meeting this week, Sinn Fein’s Ciaran Beattie tabled a motion to set up an urgent cross party body to radically change the approach of the local authority to street cleaning and bin emptying.
The motion states: “This council will establish a Cleansing Task Force, to address the escalating problem of street cleanliness in both neighbourhoods and the city centre, and the service delivery of bin collection.
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“Having clean neighbourhoods is a necessity for our ratepayers and this council must do everything in our power to address this issue. Regular bin collections are vitally important to the health and wellbeing of our citizens, however, large numbers of streets are being missed on a weekly basis.
“The Cleansing Task Force will consist of elected members from each party, senior management, cleansing management and convened by the Lord Mayor (Ard-Mhéara).
“We must use everything at our disposal to resolve this problem, such as and not exclusively, improving service delivery structures, street inspectors, increased staffing and better communication with citizens.”
Elected members referred the motion to the People and Communities Committee for debate next month.
Belfast has seen months of bad headlines concerning littering, including the disposal of drug paraphernalia, with business owners and residents alike crying out at a perceived “run down” city centre.
Last month Belfast businessman Gerry White, founder of Jawbox Gin, took to social media to say he'd never seen the city looking so rundown, describing it as "absolutely heartbreaking".
He said: “Have we completely lost pride in our city? Never seen the streets of Belfast City Centre looking so filthy and rundown, absolutely heartbreaking. It's a total embarrassment, we have went from 'Belfast Is Buzzin' to 'Belfast Is Boggin'.”
This month there were reports from workers on Castle Street claiming the street were “stained with spillages and p**s” and complained the area felt “like quite a scary place in the evening.”
A few days ago SDLP Councillor Gary McKeown tweeted his dismay after a domestic oil tank was dumped at the bottom of a Holylands street, blocking steps to the Stranmillis embankment.
He wrote on Friday: “Holylands, Belfast: a fully-intact oil tank dumped beside a community green, blocking steps from Stranmillis Embankment for anyone with a pram. The council is having to get a specialist contractor to have it removed. The sheer disregard for the people of the area is breathtaking.”
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