Resident Questions for Housing Area Panel

 

Reference: W3.3

Question Title

Street Sweeping

Date question raised

15/12/2022

Week of Area Panel

13/2/2023

Area in city

West

Star rating applied by residents

3 stars – city wide

Deadline for officer response

9am on 19th January

Name of officer responding

Melissa Francis

Officer job title

Head of CityClean

Resident Question

Issue:

Some areas have not had any street cleaning over the autumn months and it has been infrequent everywhere. This means pavements have become covered in leaves and are extremely slippery and dangerous in the wet and icy weather. This is particularly difficult for anyone with mobility problems and wheelchair users who can find the pavements too dangerous to use. West residents feel that central Brighton & Hove are better serviced than the outlying estates.

Background:

None supplied.

Action requested:

Ask for a report on:

a.    The council has a duty of care to ensure pavements are safe, which isn’t being met at the moment. What plans are there to meet this requirement?

b.    How often were the streets swept in September/October/November?

c.    Is it done more frequently in the autumn months?

d.    Is street sweeping done less in out-lying areas?

Officer Response

Officer contact details:

Melissa.Francis@brighton-hove.gov.uk

 

Officer Response:

Q. The council has a duty of care to ensure pavements are safe, which isn’t being met at the moment. What plans are there to meet this requirement?

 

Across Brighton and Hove, there are 20,000 gullies and approximately 600 kilometres of roads which gives an indication of the size of the challenge keeping gullies, roads, pavements and channels free of leaves.  Street Cleansing has teams of operatives and mechanical sweepers who sweep the roads according to schedules.  Leaf fall is continuous and areas that have been swept the day before can be covered by leaves again the next morning which means it is not possible to keep areas completely free of leaves.

 

Q. How often were the streets swept in September/ October/ November? Is it done more frequently in the autumn months?

 

During the weeding and leafing season, adjustments are made across the service to respond to leaves/weeds.  Street Cleansing have prioritised the areas with the most leafing and areas that are hot spots for flooding.

 

Q. Is street sweeping done less in out-lying areas?

 

The East and West of the city is covered 5 days a week, the city centre is covered 7 days a week as it is a high footfall area. Street sweeping includes leaves, weeds and litter, and because there is a lot of litter in the city centre, it requires attention 7 days a week.

Action:

N/A

Start date:

N/A

End date:

N/A