Edinburghs streets slammed

1 Mar 07
Edinburgh is Scotland's worst-performing council for street cleaning, according to a local government spending watchdog.

02 March 2007

Edinburgh is Scotland's worst-performing council for street cleaning, according to a local government spending watchdog.

In a Best Value report published this week, the Accounts Commission said the city generally provides good-quality services. But in some areas, including refuse collection, street cleaning and planning services, it needed to improve.

Describing litter and general street cleanliness as a major issue for city residents and visitors, the watchdog said that it remained a problem for the council.

The report added: 'In 2005/06, the rate of improvement did not keep pace with other councils and it is now the worst performing among all Scottish councils.'

It pointed out that the city council has allocated an additional £1m for street cleaning in 2006/07 in an attempt to improve its performance.

The commission, noting that the service has suffered from high costs, sickness absence and complaints, has told the council not to delay plans to put it out to competitive tender. 'The council should establish firm plans for testing the competitiveness of this service as soon as possible,' the watchdog said.

Overall, the commission concluded, the city's services were generally improving and the council met many Best Value requirements.

Commission chair Alastair MacNish said that, with sound corporate arrangements in place, the council should be in a position to secure continuous improvement across all services.

The commission praised the council for its clear and ambitious vision and corporate planning arrangements.

PFmar2007

Did you enjoy this article?

AddToAny

Top