Fife struggles to tackle volumes of weeds and litter on streets

Members of the local authority’s environment, finance and communities scrutiny committee have been told that grounds maintenance activities across the Kingdom returned to a ‘business as usual’ position last year - with many areas seeing improvements to green spaces despite COVID-related staff absence.

Street cleansing, however, is a different story, with already stretched resources meaning staff are facing an uphill battle when it comes to weed removal, litter picking, emptying bins and cleaning road channels.

Cuts of £5.6 million and a 30% reduction in the frontline workforce since 2017 has made it nigh on impossible to deliver a consistent level of service in all areas, while a reduced reliance on herbicide use combined with ideal growing conditions for weeds in recent years has done little to improve the picture.

John Rodigan, environment and building services senior manager, explained: “Teams are reacting to ward priorities but cannot maintain the required standards on set frequency schedules because of the legacy backlog.

“The service has reorganised and is trying to work to a new quality standard, but resource pressures make it difficult to deliver a consistent level of service in all areas.

“The only effective weedkillers for a geographic area the size of Fife are glyphosate-based.

“This is a highly potent and hazardous chemical that most councils have stopped using.

“The service has decided to do the same and a phased reduction is ongoing, but with no suitable alternative, the weed growth is less controlled.

“Climate change is another issue for the service, with longer, wetter, and warmer summers providing the ideal growing conditions for weeds.

“The plant growth is stronger than it was five to ten years ago and this increased workload adds to the legacy burden.”

Councillors heard that a number of measures are being looked at, including a new digital asset management system that will help with data recording and improve work scheduling.

Volumes and locations of illegal dumping and littering will be analysed, and prevention strategies developed on a site-by-site basis.

Dedicated support teams are also being established for council housing estates, while the street cleansing team are also trialling new mechanical sweepers which actually have the capacity to remove weeds.

Meanwhile, Mr Rodigan said feedback from communities from the council’s controversial rewilding policy had been “positive”, with any areas requesting a return to a normal grass cutting regime being catered for.

More generally, Mr Rodigan admitted performance had been “compromised” in recent years, but insisted the “green shoots of recovery” are being seen.

“Whilst the current budget allocation cannot support an increase in frontline workers, service provision has improved through more effective management and efficient deployment,” he continued.

“Greater emphasis has been placed on quality standards and this is visible in the hot-spot problem areas that have been tackled thus far.

“Street cleanliness has improved where resources have allowed but the challenge going forward is to provide a consistent level of service across all areas.

“The improvement journey is underway and, despite exceptionally challenging times, there are positive signs and room for optimism about future delivery.”

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