A call to start up an street cleanliness advisory board was not back by Merton Council last week.

At a full council meeting on September 12, a Conservative motion was put forward by Cllr Daniel Holden.

He said that to address issues with street cleanliness the party wanted to see an advisory board set up which would include councillors and members of the public. 

Cllr Holden said: “The issue of street cleanliness in Merton is at the forefront of residents’ minds and also this administrations disastrous introduction of wheelie bins and fortnightly collections.

“I truly believe this is a good way for this council to alleviate the negative image and dodgy public perception it has acquired in recent times.

“It will go some way to amend the disastrous approach  by this Labour administration on waste management.

“This new board should be empowered to make recommendations which cabinet could accept.”

He added that it should be ‘cross party and cross resident’ the motion was seconded by Cllr David Dean.

Cllr Dean said: “The facts are there for all to see, rats abound in South Wimbledon, rubbish is strewn in front of monuments to the dead in Merton Park and bundles of bags pile up in the test case ward Lavender Fields.

“All public contracts should be transparent and available, street cleaning to prevent disease should be conducted frequently, weekly we say, and recycling should be the goal of waste collection.

“It is time to set up a task force, a committee, to rid this borough of the contract, it is time run Veolia out of this town and all the secrets of the South London Waste Partnership (SLWP).”

A Labour amendment was put forward by Cllr Mike Brunt who said the idea of a board already exists in current committees. 

“I’ve heard some interesting arguments about bringing about a board to review this contract and invite members of the public and experts,” he said. 

“But that is what scrutiny is about we have a sustainable communities scrutiny panel we have a task force that looks at financial management and there is now going to be a task group looking at single use plastic.

“We are all elected to make our communities better we all want cleaner streets we all want to see more recycling i hoe and we want refuse collection safely and reliably.”

Cllr Brunt, who is chair of the SLWP, said that this has to be done within a budget.

He added: “We will work to improve the service we get from Veolia improve the recycling rates that are not good enough.

“Already we are hearing from Sutton on the SLWP which is a collaborative of four boroughs working together for the benefits of their residents.

“That is the way we are going to improve this borough working collaboratively and pushing Veolia to the limit on that.

“I agree with the green sack stuff we don’t need a committee to tell us that Veolia is failing on that.

“I’ve already been talking to the manager here about how we can improve that and have a more reliable way of collecting the green sacks

“That’s what we should be doing we need to report it not just moan about it and stir up the public to protest about it.”

The Labour amendment was carried with 35 and 21 against.