Lib Dems will re-invest £130k of savings that have been made through increasing the efficiency of the council’s Streets & Open Spaces organisation - into actually improving the standard of services to the public.

We are targeting the following improvements:

• Longer hours of opening of public toilets, both to support usage of open spaces and the night economy
• Intensified routine maintenance inspections of both public toilets and other installations and equipment on open spaces, such as play equipment, together with an increased maintenance budget
• Expanded environmental patrols allowing improved focus on evenings, weekends and public holidays to inform, educate and if necessary enforce
• Routine on-the-ground supervision of set-up and take-down of events on open spaces
• Increased litter picking frequency in residential areas immediately surrounding shopping centres
• An additional summer litter collection team for city centre and an intensified presence on open spaces
• Increased routine frequency of year-round litter bin cleaning

Lib Dem Deputy Leader, Cllr Zoe O’Connell says: “It’s vital the council recognises that we live in a growing, increasingly 24/7 city. Streets and public spaces just get dirtier, facilities get more wear and tear over longer hours. Although more efficiency is great, the old same levels of service – just done more cheaply - aren’t enough. We need to re-invest what we save and do a better job”.

Lib Dem campaigner Jamie Dalzell says: “Cleanliness, care and maintenance in the public realm and the management of waste should be absolutely central to what a local council is about and Cambridge is not a poor council; so it’s a disappointment that Labour are cutting spending on these priorities. They matter for everyone in the city.”