Beaches across a Kent district are the cleanest they have been “in years” and long-running waste-collection issues have finally been ironed out, council chiefs say.

The improvements have been put down to the work of authority-owned company Canenco, which was introduced by Canterbury City Council last year in an effort to turn around the failings of Serco.

Authority bosses now believe the potential for reputational harm has been lowered as a result of the “stabilised” service - but questions still remain from those demanding performance reports.

Statistics are yet to be made public by the Conservative-run council, yet leader Ben Fitter-Harding insists crews are “doing a great job”.

The Conservative told KentOnline: “We are really happy with how Canenco has been doing, so much so it now takes care of ground maintenance and street cleansing.

“Our beaches were the cleanest they have been in years this summer.

“Previously under Serco we couldn’t really change things if there was an issue, everything was slow-moving.

“But by creating our own waste company, we’ve been able to address issues straight away and iron them out.

“It was brave to start our own bin service.

"We began under a huge struggle with snow in the first week and a lot of people were finding it difficult.

“But we pulled through and in the long-term, Canenco has been a success.”

Statistics on Canenco’s performance are said to be in the process of being compiled by officials.

They are due to be published in the coming weeks.

Labour leader Dave Wilson, the man hoping to oust Cllr Fitter-Harding as the council’s boss next year, admits the waste-collection service has improved - but he is still calling for more.

“We don’t get as many complaints as we used to,” he said.

“It’s better than Serco, but it would be difficult not to be better than Serco.

“It’s meeting expectations, but I don’t think it’s doing great.

“It’s the one council service given to all residents, but we don’t know how Canenco is actually performing.

“It’s not a good enough way to run the service, we should be seeing better and it should be held accountable.”

In the summer, fed-up authority officials wrote to letting agents threatening to take robust action if rubbish from student tenants piles high again this term.

Litter from students regularly blights city streets but the authority is hopeful it can clamp down on the issue.

“Due to Covid, this autumn is the first time in two years we’ve had a new wave of students all start as usual,” Cllr Fitter-Harding continued.

“So we hope to address problems from the start.

“I know there are people out there who still have problems.

“If they do, I encourage them to get in contact and we can work to resolve it quickly.”

Due to the council’s increased confidence in its Canenco bin service, it has lowered the “strategic risk factor” surrounding refuse collection.

It means the authority believes the potential for reputational harm has decreased thanks to the improvements.

A report published by the council at the end of last month reveals it paid out to a complainant in 2021 over a long-running bin dispute.

The disgruntled resident was issued an apology and given £100 in compensation following the repeated failings of city binmen.

The authority admitted to making mistakes, with emptied bins causing a hazard to locals by continually blocking the footpath and road.

Having paid out to the resident, the council says the matter has been resolved following the switch from Serco to Canenco.