STREET cleaning and sweeping in Worcester is going to be reduced — with £80,000 cut from the spending.

Cash-strapped Worcester City Council wants to remove nearly 10 per cent from its budget for picking up litter, cleansing the streets and sweeping up.

It comes despite surveys consistently showing how cleanliness in the city is a top priority for the public.

Your Worcester News understands all the city’s streets are being examined to see which areas can take the brunt of it.

The city centre is set to be protected, with the focus on outerlying residential areas which are done on a rota basis.

The cuts, which will take place over a two-year period from April, are down to unprecedented reductions in government funding which means more than £3m must be reduced from spending by 2018.

Politicians are already saying they fear it will affect the areas they represent — and want answers on what locations are likely to be affected.

Councillor Marc Bayliss, opposition Tory group deputy leader, said: “Which areas will have to pay the price for this? “My constituents pay council tax just like everywhere else, they deserve just as much of the cake.

“This is something that really matters to the people of Worcester.”

The current budget for street cleaning in Worcester is £854,470, with an £80,000 reduction 9.3 per cent of the total.

An 18-strong team also do grass cutting and other environmental tasks to ensure Worcester looks its best.

The city centre is attended to on a daily basis, and the outerlying areas are divided into zones and cleaned on a roughly 10-day cycle.

The city council say the new plans are still being worked on, but insists the cuts will not make a great visual difference.

A spokesman said: “Our proposal is to make a range of small adjustments to how our street cleaning team work.

“We’re confident that savings can be made with very little difference for our residents.

“By further developing our targeted and responsive approach to street cleaning we will ensure that the resources we have are deployed even more effectively.

“Worcester is and will remain a clean city.”