Fell Lane and Oakworth Road residents have been told to clean up their act by Keighley West councillor Barry Thorne. The call for action was prompted by the purchase of two new sweeping machines by Bradford council for Keighley town centre and its surrounding villages in an effort to clean-up the town's dirty hot spots.

The sit-and-ride 'green machines', which cost more than £10,000 each, are white with two big brushes on the front and a green bin bag at the back. Every Monday and Thursday a man and his sweeping machine will clean the streets around Fell Lane and Oakworth Road as well as Knowle Park and Lawkholme Lane. On Saturdays and Sund-ays he will clean up the town centre.

To aid the contraptions, Cllr Thorne, leisure services chief at Bradford council, has called on parents, children and shop keepers to sweep and clear away piles of litter scattered along the streets. Last year he offered lollipops to any children who helped keep their roads tidy during the summer holidays and intends to do the same this year.

The machine was put to the test for the first time last week under the command of refuge sweeper Francis Kus.

He says: 'It's a very modern machine but it's quite heavy, especially when going up hills. It's excellent for obstacles and light litter such as crisp and cigarette packets. The only thing is the bag gets full really quickly, so you have to keep stopping to empty it by hand, which can be quite dirty work. But it can clean most streets in under two hours.'

Cllr Thorne says: 'Education about the dangers of litter is not working in schools at the moment because as soon as a street is tidied up it's just as dirty again the next day. The worst areas are Oakworth Road and Fell Lane where you can see crisp and sandwich packets, lottery scratch cards, parking tickets and fish and chip remains. I've never seen it looking so bad.

'I want to call on all the parents to talk to their children about keeping their streets clean and this is a great way to get the message across because everyone can get involved.'

Frank Consoli, proprietor of the electrical store C.T.V, Oakworth Road, says: 'The machine looks really good but very technical for a road sweeper. The streets around here are always dirty and really hard to keep clean, so this sweeper is an excellent idea. Children don't seem to realise there are bins to put litter in. This machine is spot-on.'

The machine will be officially launched on Friday June 12.

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