WITH reference to the letter from Coun A Waller (November 13), the Thomas Cook survey named York as Britain's best holiday destination outside London. The survey also named York as one of only two cities, the other being Edinburgh, to be praised by tourists for its clean streets.
These unsolicited comments by tourists do not deserve the negative approach demonstrated by Coun Waller nor are they discredited by anyone but Coun Waller and his colleagues. Street cleaners and other staff deserve praise rather than having their achievements derided.
We have decided to review cleanliness across the city as part of the scrutiny board process, to determine the problems we face and to make recommendations, although I believe this will show that most people are satisfied with our standards.
This process will be completed by early next month so we are hardly spending the winter in scrutiny meetings as suggested.
The street cleansing service has been continually reviewed and some alterations to our staffing arrangements were made earlier this year. We have appointed a waste services quality manager and an assistant; and while the cleansing technician posts were made redundant, the emphasis is to move towards auditing and improving the quality of the street cleaning and other waste services.
Coun Derek Smallwood,
Wycliffe Avenue,
Tang Hall, York.
Updated: 10:43 Monday, December 03, 2001
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