CORSHAM town centre will benefit from extra street cleaning in an effort to spruce up its appearance during the summer.

Corsham Town Council has set aside £2,000 to top up the street cleaning service already provided by North Wiltshire District Council after complaints from residents about the amount of litter spoiling the look of the town.

At a meeting of the finance and general purposes committee on Wednesday, members agreed to spend the money so town council staff could respond promptly to street cleaning complaints.

"It has been an on-going problem for sometime," said town council chairman James Fraser. "During the summer months particularly, when the tourists come, the streets have tended to get dirty.

"Although the district council are responsible for cleaning up they can't keep up with it and we will do some supplementary cleaning when it is needed."

A town council report said the problem was at its worst in the afternoons, as the current cleaning service was only provided before 9am each day. The top-up service will be provided in the town centre from April 1 to September 30, for one to two hours a day from Monday to Friday, some time between noon and 4pm.

The residential and rural areas of the town will only be covered when workmen are passing, or a resident complains about a particular litter incident.

Discussions with district council cleansing and amenities staff led members to agree the most practical approach would be to keep equipment simple and minimal rather than buying mechanical equipment or wheeled litter collection trucks.

The district council will supply black bin bags and will remove and dispose of the material collected during street cleaning.

But the town council will need to supply personal protective equipment for it staff, including high visibility vests and gloves, as well as brushes, shovel and litter pickers.

"We will be concentrating mainly on the town centre but we will send people out to the villages of Gastard and Neston too," said Coun Fraser.