Cleaning town’spavementsto cost £18k

The new granite surfaces which were laid as part of the Public Realm Works are now covered in grime, chewing gum and oil.

The multi-million pound Public Realm Works provided new wider granite pavements, new lighting, seating, bins and tree planting for both Lurgan and Portadown town centres.

Some councillors had previously voiced concern that while the new pavements looked great, the high cost of the specialist cleaning was not anticipated.

A spokesperson for Craigavon Council said: “The Council has approved a deep clean of town centre street surface once per year and this has been planned for both towns for September. Following a competitive tendering process the cost of £18,400 was approved.”

At a meeting of Craigavon Council DUP Cllr Carla Lockhart welcomed the cleaning of the granite as it was ‘extremely stained and she voiced concern at the amount of chewing gum on it.

She said equipment had been purchased to deal with this issue and it was important that the Development Committee hear how effective this machine had been.

Cllr Lockhart referred to an initiative to try and curtail chewing gum and asked if this could be looked at
again.

Ulster Unionist Cllr Ken Twyble referred to the problem of vans and lorries parking up on pavements.

And SDLP Cllr Cllr Declan McAlinden agreed and said they had raised the issue of the need for drip trays before to prevent oil spillages unto the pavements.

DUP Cllr Philip Moutray asked if the granite had been sealed in the second phase of this work and the Director of Development undertook to investigate this and report back to all Members.

The cleaning process is due to start in September.