Street cleaning upgrade rolls out

Bromsgrove District Council has rolled out two new high-tech street sweeping machines to help keep the district’s roads, pavements and public spaces cleaner, greener, and safer.

The new vehicles are quieter, more fuel efficient, and better equipped to tackle litter, debris, and pollutants. Advanced filtration systems help reduce air pollution and stop waste from washing down drains and into local waterways.

They sweep three to six miles of road per hour and feature special brush upgrades, so they don’t just sweep as they go, they also strim weeds.

It expands the council’s sweeping fleet from five to six vehicles, with three large sweepers and three compact mini cleaners for the areas the big ones can’t reach.

They equip cleansing teams to sweep Bromsgrove District’s roughly 428 miles of streets up to twice a year, while also tackling hotspots and carrying out other essential duties like emptying bins, clearing fly-tips, and maintaining public land.

Cllr Peter Whittaker, Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services, said: "Cleaner streets mean a better, safer quality of life for everyone. These new sweepers will help us deliver a greener, more reliable service more efficiently.”

The new sweepers replace an older model that had become costly and difficult to maintain, joining the mini sweepers that were added to the fleet earlier this year.

It’s part of a wider strategic investment by the council into its waste fleet, designed to cut delays and costs associated with maintaining older vehicles. Outdated vehicles, especially bin lorries, are being replaced to improve the reliability and efficiency of key services like waste collections and street cleaning, and free up workshop time for more preventative maintenance across the council’s whole fleet of service vehicles.

Cllr Whittaker added: “From sweepers to bin lorries, quality, value-for-money vehicles are a vital cog in the machine that keeps our district clean.”

Residents can check road sweeping schedules, report problems, and much more, on the Street Cleaning section of www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/My-Place.