Lib Dems' sweeping up pledge

2.58.58pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 27th Apr 2007

Liberal Democrats have been sweeping up in Bath to highlight their campaign pledges to make Bath and North East Somerset cleaner if they win control of the Council in next week's local elections.

Local MP Don Foster, who joined Lib Dem candidates from Abbey, Lansdown and Walcot wards, said: "Nuisances such as fly-tipping and littering can really mar the beauty of our city and make people lose pride in their local areas. Bath attracts huge numbers of tourists, as we know, and to keep them coming we need a clean and tidy city".

"I welcome the pledge made by Liberal Democrats standing for the Council to introduce more frequent street cleaning - it would make a big difference to Bath."

"The Lib Dem policy of holding 'Environmental Action Days' - getting all the relevant agencies into one area on the same day to blitz all the environmental nuisances, including vandalism, graffiti and fly-tipping - has proved extremely popular with residents," added Cllr David Dixon, who is standing for re-election in Walcot ward, "we will hold more Action Days to ensure that we keep on top of such problems in the areas which are particularly susceptible."

Chewing gum is a major annoyance in the city centre according to Ian Thorn (Abbey, Lib Dem candidate). "Gum on the streets looks ugly and makes our city seem uncared-for," he said, "we'll learn from experiments carried out in other cities to find the best way of discouraging people from spitting their gum on the ground, and we'll clean up the gum that's already there."

Notes:

The Lib Dems are pledging to:

• hold more environmental action days to clamp down on graffiti, fly-posting, fly-tipping, dog fouling, littering and other nuisances.

• remove fly-tipping within 24 hours from Council property or within 48 hours from other property.

• clear chewing gum from our towns and city centre pavements and introduce a public education campaign on the nuisance.

• introduce more frequent street cleaning.