THE article Claims Bulbs Will Only Mask Litter (News Shopper, 23 November) claimed inaccurately Greenwich Council is planning to cut the time Cleansweep staff will spend cleaning the streets.

The truth is Greenwich Council will continue to operate this service to a high standard.

Greenwich Council is proud of its Cleansweep service. It can sometimes be a victim of its own success, as residents sometimes expect a speedy council response to clear rubbish from land it does not own.

This was the case with the dumped mattress at Master Gunner Place, which was mentioned in your article.

The land belongs to a local housing association but nevertheless, someone was sent to remove the rubbish the next day.

The problem results from people dumping rubbish in the first place and residents are encouraged to report any incidents of flytipping.

Staff overtime remains a useful method of providing a flexible response to fluctuations in demand.

However, over-reliance on staff overtime is not the most efficient way of running the service and the council is making sure it controls overtime carefully in order to keep services within budget. The council is currently recruiting around 80 new permanent staff.

To suggest the Cleansweep service could suffer as a result of our Spring Bulbs project is daft as this project was funded through money already earmarked for new bulbs and plants.

CLLR ALEX GRANT

Greenwich Council Cabinet Member for Environment and Public Services