With anxiety heightened by the Covid-19 outbreak, people are being reassured that street cleansing happening this week is nothing to be concerned by.

Teams from Maidstone Borough Council will be taking to the pavements of the town centre for the routine work to clean grease and stains which have accumulated over time.

The authority is keen to reassure residents that if they see the activity happening, or notice the smells of the cleaning products being used, they should not have any concerns relating to the coronavirus outbreak.

Cllr Derek Mortimer, chairman of the council's communities, housing and environment committee, said: "We do use a detergent to remove the grease and stains which does have a lemon smell to it.

"This is purely the normal cleaning agent we use so people should not be alarmed this is anything more sinister. Once we return to our daily routines again the pavements and street furniture will be looking cleaner."

The sprucing up of the town centre is all part of the normal rota of work - and with lockdown making the streets quieter than normal, it looks like a good time to be carrying out the cleaning.

Cllr Mortimer said: "This is part of our usual schedule of cleaning which takes place at this time of year so we will be going ahead with this.

"The safety of our workforce is our primary concern and as the streets are quieter it will help our teams to maintain social distancing and keep two metres away from any members of the public as well as from each other. It will also make it easier to clean."

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