KENNET District Council has taken three mechanical road sweepers out of service after they continually broke down.

But now the council has undertaken a reorganisation which, it says, will see roads swept more often. It will also recruit extra staff to manually sweep pavements.

Environment and amenity services manager Mark Smith blamed the manufacturer of the vehicles which has now gone out of business for the problems.

Towards the end of the first year of use the machines were already showing signs of hydraulic fatigue and during the second year the maintenance budget of £11,500 was exceeded by £24,000.

Mr Smith told council's community development executive committee: "The fault lies with the manufacturer of the vehicles which has now, sadly, gone out of business.

"We made a purchase in good faith, the fault lies with the machine."

The committee agreed to Mr Smith's request to pay off the leases of the three sweepers at a cost of £65,211.

Members also endorsed his proposals to reorganise road and pavement cleaning in the district.

Under the plan, the council will use two road sweepers from about 5.30am to 9pm an extra seven hours a day.

The council will recruit three extra people to sweep pavements between 8am and 8pm during the summer and next year the council will recruit two more staff.

The cost of extra staff, together with the running costs of a large sweeper machine, will be £45,000. The council will also need a new medium sweeping machine at for about £71,000.

Mr Smith "These changes will make the environment tidier and will give us the flexibility to respond to complaints of fly tipping and littering."