A war of words has erupted after claims Croydon Council has cut street cleaning in up to 90 per cent of the borough's roads.

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Conservative Councillor Yvette Hopley used the Freedom of Information Act to reveal that Purley Oaks Road, where she lives, is now cleaned only every six weeks, instead of monthly.

And the Tories' member for clean green Croydon, Coun Phil Thomas, claimed a council officer had told him the same was true of 90 per cent of roads in the borough.

Some £500,000 has been stripped from the council's contract with waste company Veolia due to budget cuts.

Coun Thomas said: "We were told we would get improved street cleaning. Now we find it's the complete opposite."

The changes in frequency coincide with a restructure of Veolia's operations in Croydon that came into effect on June 1, introducing a "village system" which splits the borough into small areas.

Coun Thomas' Labour counterpart Coun Stuart Collins confirmed that some roads in the borough were being cleaned less frequently, but added: "There has been no reduction in the number of street sweepers."

Services have been "moved to places where they are needed the most," he said.

Most of the Veolia contract cuts came from combining landfill collection teams, and not by slashing street cleaning, Coun Collins said. He added: "We need to make sure that we get further efficiency out of the contract and that's what we're trying to do."

Coun Hopley said: "They’re supposed to have an open and transparent policy with this new village system, but as a point of fact they have just used to cut services."

She said she had seen residents in her road sweeping leaves themselves because of the less-frequent cleaning by Veolia.