ANTHONY FAIRCLOUGH, Dundonald Lib Dem Focus Team, in the Wimbledon Guardian, Thursday 3rd November 2005

"I was both surprised and delighted to see a mobile steam cleaning unit on the Broadway on Monday evening (October 24). It had been hired by Merton Council and was making its way along the road cleaning the pavements.

I hope that this will be a regular occurrence, as the state of streets in Wimbledon town centre and surrounding area is generally quite poor.

Interestingly, the Council's Regeneration and Public Realm Scrutiny Panel has just announced an investigation into waste collection arrangements, including recycling and domestic refuse collection, and has asked the public and local groups to submit their comments on the service provided.

On the basis of feedback we've had from recent street surveys, Dundonald Lib Dem Focus team has submitted views to the panel calling for clearer plans and more information about waste collection and recycling, greater plastics recycling, in order to meet statutory recycling requirements and more street cleaning.

The streets are swept regularly, removing litter, but Merton's town centres are filthy too and we argued that there needs to be more actual cleaning of streets.

We also called for more regular litter collection for areas bordering town centres. We suggested that streets bordering town centre areas need to be swept more than just once a week, as litter accumulates, especially at weekends.

I would like to encourage all your readers to make sure that the Scrutiny Panel knows what they think, by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by writing to the Scrutiny Support Officer, Chief Executive's Department, Civic Centre, London Road, Morden, SM4 5DX."