New Council Neighbourhood Initiative Welcomed by Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin Councillor Willie Clarke has welcomed the proposal by Newry, Mourne and Down Council to introduce a new Neighbourhood Services initiative. This new proposal will see services joined-up, contactable through one telephone number, one web-page, one service, via the ‘Neighbourhood Service’ brand.

The proposal was tabled at the Regulatory, Technical Services Committee (Neighbourhood Services Directorate.) on Wednesday past. 

The Councillor said,

“The new Neighbourhood Service will be a one-stop shop, in dealing with many of the services that affect the general environment of the District, some requiring a significant improvement, such as refuse collection, street cleansing, public conveniences, grass cutting, graffiti and fly post removal, dog fouling, maintenance of street furniture, bins, seating etc. The initiative will also improve enforcement and arrangements for assisted and bulky waste collections. It is proposed that by dealing efficiently and effectively with these named services and a range of other services, that such an approach will have a positive impact on both the perception of the Councils service provision and also on the general appearance of the environment.”

Cllr Clarke said,

“For many residents, businesses and Councillors, the general environment of the District is of the utmost importance and to many demonstrates the ability, efficiency and effectiveness of the Council as a whole.  The new service will make it more convenient for customers to contact services and ensure there is a timeframe to resolve the complaint within an agreed timeline.

He added,

“There are no additional service costs anticipated at this stage, staffing costs having been included in the rates estimates and response times set to reflect available current resources. Council has recently agreed an additional resource in waste management, it is considered that the Neighbourhood Services Proposal can be developed within the current Council budget”

The Sinn Féin elected representative concluded,

“I was happy to propose that council proceed with this forward thinking initiative, with the amendment that a litter strategy and dog fouling strategy is incorporated in the rollout of the Neighbourhood Services Proposal, with the target to achieve full implementation by 1 September 2018.”

Cllr Willie Clarke is available to discuss this issue

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