Council freed from scrutiny to buy basics for town

A council is to invest in road sweepers, gully suckers and bin facilities now it is no longer under formal scrutiny from the government.

Middlesbrough Council was put under a Best Value Notice last year, which compelled it to improve within 12 months after being embroiled in bullying claims.

Mayor Chris Cooke told a meeting the council was now "investing in some of the basics again".

He said the authority needed to "get back into a phase of investing in those small, everyday things that people expect a council to do".

The Best Value Notice was allowed to expire in September.

Cooke said he was keen to "make sure we have the right vehicles, making sure we have gully suckers, which is, I know the bane of everyone's life when we can't get the gullies cleaned".

He also cited the need to replace the bins in the town as "communal bins haven't been refreshed in a significant amount of time, so to make sure that they're fit for purpose is a basic of the council, really".

Councillor David Coupe asked the mayor about getting road sweepers, which he agreed to, and mentioned weeding in the town, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The mayor explained as the council moved on from its improvement journey, it was "able to refocus priorities and staff" and the focus needed to be on making "the town look nicer because it does have an impact on residents".

Cooke then provided a timeline in response to councillor John Kabuye's query on road cleaning preparations.

The mayor said "most of the vehicles" should be in place by the end of the year, but it was not a guarantee because he said staff needed to be trained.

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