Finchley and Golders Green MP Rudi Vis implores Barnet Council to keep the borough's streets cleaner

Over the past year, Barnet Council has reconfigured its street cleaning service to focus on town centres, but some residents have complained to me that their streets are not being swept often enough.

And these complaints have come about since or possibly because of the re-configuration of the Street Cleaning Service into the Signature Street Cleaning Service.

In addition, it has become clear that using new powers under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 to remove graffiti from private property and re-charge it to the owners, to issue fixed penalty notices for litter, dog-fouling and fly-tipping are not really being used effectively - yet this is the main plank of the Clean Borough Strategy that was launched this year to much fanfare.

Surely the time has come for the council to look at specific issues including the implementation and progress of the Clean Borough Strategy, the reporting and collection of data, and the Barnet Homes cleansing contract.

Recent walkabouts with Labour and the Deputy Mayor of London Nicky Gavron, on estates such as Clitterhouse in NW2, Sydney Road and Pymmes Brook in N10 and estates across East Finchley, show that the standard of cleanliness is worse in these areas, with litter, graffiti and fly-tipping regularly found.

Barnet Homes, which maintains these estates, after strong lobbying, have finally recognised the need to review its cleaning contract, but nothing has been reported back to date.

A recent question about the amount of graffiti removed from Barnet Homes' properties shows that Barnet Homes does not record the data. This was a criticism of the recent Audit Review of the Graffiti Service, which said the Best Value Performance Indicator data could not be relied on as reflecting the full picture across the borough because Barnet Homes was not collecting and reporting the data.

I recognise that overall the cleansing service in Barnet is good compared to other boroughs; but it is designed to raise the difference in the standard of cleanliness in certain areas of the borough in an effort to improve the street scene in those areas.

George Orwell said all animals are equal but some are more equal than others - in Barnet, access to services illustrates this. Unfortunate-ly, some services still appear to be for the few rather than the many.

The council must keep to its promise of providing a first class street cleansing service in all streets and not just in town centres.

We demand that the new Signature Street Cleaning Service is reviewed in order to deal with litter and street-grime hotspots that are not located in town centres, but that still impact on the quality of life.

Let me know if your street is not getting swept enough by emailing me on visr@parliament.uk