Salcombe Town Council has disputed the “seven days a week street-cleaning 7am to 7pm from Merlin Rocket Week” promised to them by South Hams District Council.

At the full council meeting last Wednesday, Cllr Mike Fice said that one street cleaner was even told “not to visit Salcombe when it’s raining”.

Cllr Fice said: “One street-cleaner was dragged off to prepare for the Kingsbridge in Bloom competition recently. We were also promised 12 hour cover at the weekends, which isn’t happening, and the bins are full-up and aren’t being emptied in the evenings. When people come to visit Salcombe they want to see a neat and tidy town.”

A spokesperson for South Hams District Council said: “We have a seasonal street cleaner allocated to Salcombe who started at the beginning of July and works from Monday to Friday, starting work at 7am until 3pm.

“We then have weekend staff who do street cleaning on the weekend. Through the summer we have additional seasonal staff who are collecting litter bins in Salcombe, and they cover the later period in the evenings.

“We can assure Salcombe that none of our staff have been advised to not attend when it is raining.”

But Cllr Fice took issue with this response this week, saying “this just isn’t reflected on the ground in the town - it isn’t happening as we were promised.”