BLAENAU Gwent council will be investing almost £160,000 to help rid the borough’s streets of rubbish by improving its street cleaning services.

The council’s executive committee agreed the investment of additional resources at a meeting held on Wednesday, July 26.

The investment includes the introduction of town centre cleaning on a Saturday, increasing capacity in the cleansing team to clean more streets across Blaenau Gwent, focusing on litter picking, sweeping up debris, removing chewing gum and tackling dog fouling.

An additional team of three will also be appointed to improving cleanliness across the residential streets and rear lanes, removing graffiti, power washing highways signs, bus shelters and illuminated bollards.

Cllr Garth Collier, the council’s deputy leader and the executive member for the environment, said: “We have listened to the feedback we have received from the public and a tidy and clean environment is important to the people of Blaenau Gwent.

“We have responded to that feedback by agreeing to invest £158,000 into the street cleansing service this year and will be monitoring and evaluating its impact over the year.”