Leeds city grime busters' jobs are axed
Specialist street cleaning for inner city areas of Leeds has been axed.
Leeds City Council said the grant which funded a team of 20 has ended and the authority cannot afford to pick up the bill to extend it.
Staff affected have been re-deployed to other areas of the council. Normal street cleaning will continue.
The council said the eight mobile teams targeted inner city areas in need of greater attention and helped improve environmental quality.
Councillor Tom Murray, executive member for environmental services, said: "We're pledging to do our best to keep streets in the inner-city as clean as we can. Unfortunately, however, there has been an unexpected cut in government funding which leaves us little money to do more.
"The mobile street cleaning teams provided a fantastic, high-quality rapid response in areas that needed it most and really contributed towards improving the quality of life in neighbourhoods by making the environment more pleasant."
Part of the teams' work in inner-city neighbourhoods was to inspire residents by example to appreciate how pleasant their environment can be if it is kept clean and tidy.