A PETITION to keep Salcombe’s long-serving manual road sweepers in the town has now attracted more than 430 signatures.

One of the road sweepers, Chad Benson has been working in Salcombe for more than 16 years, and has become a much-loved part of the community, even going by the name of Mr Salcombe.

South Hams Council have replaced him with a state-of-the-art mechanical road sweeping vehicle, although some residents and councillors are sceptical that it will be able to do such a thorough job as the manual road sweepers.

South Hams Council is in the process of streamlining many of the services it offers, in response to the forthcoming loss of central government grant money from 2018.

The petition, which had attracted 433 signatures by Friday afternoon, states: ‘We the undersigned wish the council to reconsider its plan to remove our two manual road sweepers at the end of the summer and replace them with sporadic flying squads and machines.

‘Salcombe needs its road sweepers as they do far more than just sweep our roads.

‘They are part of our community and they do a fantastic job all year round.’

A spokesperson for South Hams Council said: ‘We are about to launch a brand new street cleaning service which will give the tax payer much better value for money.

‘A small fleet of mechanical sweepers are going to be used to cover a much greater percentage of our town and village centres as well as interconnecting roads.

‘These new small mechanical sweepers, will be joined by a ‘hit squad’ - a group of trained cleaning staff who can cover a larger area than we used to.

‘They will be able to direct their attention to where it is most required, when it is required, making the best use of their time.

The spokesperson continued: ‘The council isn’t losing any permanent staff as part of the changes but some staff may have found their working areas or patterns have altered.

‘We have spoken to all of the employed operatives, assessed their skill sets, aspirations and training needs and put them in positions that best suit their skills. ‘Some of the 20 operatives have been promoted and given additional training, moving from the role of road sweeper to driver.

‘While we are aware that changes like this can take some time to settle in, we would ask the public to give us time to demonstrate how this new service can work,’ the spokesperson added.

Judith Newman, the local business owner in Salcombe who started the petition said: ‘Since Chad was moved last week, the town is a mess. He used to come in at 6.30am and by the time most people had woken up, the town was lovely.

‘Now there is rubbish everywhere and the bins are overflowing.

‘South Hams Council told Chad Benson he could stay until the end of the summer but as soon as they heard about the petition, he was moved early.

Mrs Newman said that Chad had been offered an interview on BBC Radio Devon. When he asked his supervisor if he could take part in the interview, he was told he couldn’t. And the next day, he was told he wouldn’t be working in Salcombe for the remainder of the summer.

‘Losing his position in Salcombe so quickly has pushed Chad to breaking point,’ Judith added.

The spokesperson for South Hams Council explained: ‘There has been a rumour circulating that some members of staff have been moved because of this news story, this is simply not true.’

But when pushed for an explanation for the sudden removal of Chad, the spokesperson said: ‘We would not comment on personal matters concerning an employee.’

At last week’s Salcombe Town Council meeting, numerous members of the public turned up to make their feelings known.

Liz Hore, landlady of the Victoria Inn said: ‘There are many places in Salcombe that the machines won’t reach, but Chad did.

‘Salcombe wasn’t broken, so why try and fix it? The town is angry.’

Another member of the public spoke about the congestion caused by the new road sweeping vehicle, as traffic backed up around the town during ‘rush hour.’

Cllr Tony Lang took issue with the timing of the changes, saying: ‘It’s the start of Merlin Rocket Week, one of the busiest weeks of the year - and there is rubbish everywhere.’

Steve Smith closed the public forum by saying: ‘Chad has produced more value for Salcombe than any other council worker I know of.

‘This is the most stupid decision I’ve ever known.’

Town mayor, Cllr Mike Fice lamented the lack of communication, explaining that South Hams Council hadn’t consulted with, let alone informed the town council of the changes.

‘This is a major concern, we were very disappointed not to be told, not to be consulted,’ he said.

Deputy mayor, Cllr Andrew Biggs drew parallels with the recent Whitestrand consultation, saying: ‘There’s now a complete distrust of South Hams Council.

‘The people are speaking, and South Hams Council are just ignoring them.’

With Cllr Judy Pearce’s absence from the meeting, ward member for Salcombe and Thurlestone Cllr Simon Wright was the only South Hams Councillor bearing the brunt of people’s frustrations with the local authority.

Cllr Wright released a statement addressing the town’s concerns this week, he said: ‘When the idea of the mechanical road sweepers was first suggested to me, I too was sceptical. Could they really do the job of our much-loved local road sweeper?

‘But the officers assured me that the mechanical sweepers could clean the roads and pavements, and a hit squad of officers would be in operation as well.

‘So this week I have been down in the town on two separate mornings since the new sweepers have been in operation.

‘I am pleased to be able to say that the town looked fantastic. I really cannot see that there is a problem and if this new service is delivering better value for money and providing the town with an excellent service, we are winners all around.

‘Let’s give this new service a try, and in three months if it is not working, then we can turn to the officers and ask them to explain, but with what I have seen so far, I cannot see there being a problem.’

In this week’s ‘A Few Words from Salcombe Town Council’ in the Gazette, the town clerk wrote: ‘As in other parts of the area, Salcombe seems to be at war with South Hams Council.

‘We were told we were to lose our permanent road sweeper at the end of the summer. Since then, Chad Benson our downtown road sweeper for more than 16 years has been transferred overnight.

‘He did not want to go and we did not want to lose him.’

Mrs Newman spoke to Neil Greenhalgh, operational manager for waste at South Hams Council on Monday afternoon, and asked him: ‘What do we have to do to get Chad back?’

She was told that now the changes have been made, it would be impossible to go back.

However, Mrs Newman vowed to continue fighting to see Chad reinstated in his position, adding: ‘With the amount of support that Chad is getting, we won’t give up easily.’