Shepway Tory Leader "Insults" local residents

9.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 18th Sep 2006

Leader of the Lib Dems on Shepway District Council, Cllr Lynne Beaumont, has slammed the Conservative leader of Shepway Council Cllr Robert Bliss for implying that local people for the appalling state of Shepway's streets.

Local residents and business owners have been in uproar about the amount of litter. The area has deteriorated dramatically since the Conservatives passed control of street cleaning to Kent County Council as part of cost saving measures. In his leaders report at the Council meeting of Wednesday 13th September 2006 Cllr Robert Bliss said that he thought the solution to the terrible state of the streets was to move away from a 'litter culture'.

Cllr Lynne Beaumont said:

"Cllr Bliss was a leading player in removing local control of street cleaning nearly 2 years ago. The move has been a total failure. The £3.3 million annual cleaning contract was passed to KCC to save money. The contract is still not signed. Rather that complain about a 'litter culture', which actually puts the onus of the problem on the people of this area, which insults every citizen who cares about this area, Cllr Bliss would better serve local people by actually delivering a street cleaning service."

Shepway Lib Dems are actively looking to seek an alternative solution to this appalling problem affecting the lives of the people of Folkestone, Hythe, and Romney Marsh.

Cllr Lynne Beaumont said:

"The Liberal Democrats in Shepway are fed up with listening to it's KCC's responsibility. We don't want cleaner streets, we want clean streets. We want an area people are proud of."