A businessman is taking Tonbridge and Malling MP Tom Tugendhat to task for what he sees as a failure to exert pressure on his borough council to clean its streets.

Danny Lucas from Hadlow is running a website called It's Not Good Tom, where he criticises the MP for "not caring" about the state of the borough's roads.

Mr Lucas, whose business Lucas UK operates from the Invicta Business Park in Wrotham Heath, has been in a long-running campaign to persuade Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council to ensure its contractors collect litter and fly-tipped waste from the streets.

This month, he has been touring "litter hot-spots" in the borough in a van sporting a giant billboard with a picture of Mr Tugendhat, and proclaiming: "Welcome to the filthy and littered streets of TMBC (Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council) - even the local MP doesn't care."

But Mr Tugendhat told KentOnline: "I was in touch with Mr Lucas in the autumn about this, but did not hear more from him until I saw the van.

"I would have been happy to help find a resolution to his latest concerns had he asked, and I remain happy to help Mr Lucas if he wishes me too. "He knows how to contact me."

But Mr Tugendhat did agree that: "Recent months have seen a rise in litter across the country and I have been pressing TMBC to resolve this locally.

"I know they are determined to get the results we all want.

"They have the highest improvement in recycling performance in the whole of Kent and recent clearing operations on many main roads are already making a noticeable difference.

"There is more to do and I welcome their determination to spend money on litter pickers not billboards.”

Mr Lucas said there was widespread disquiet among residents at the state of the roads.

He said: "Despite official letters of complaint supported by more than 500 signatures, sent to the council and copied to the council leader Nicolas Heslop and to MP Tom Tugendhat, nothing has been done, and our requests have been ignored.

"This is unacceptable as this service is not affected by Covid and in fact is even more important from a public health point of view than in normal times. It’s a disgrace."

Carol Sargent from Larkfield agreed. She said: "I am appalled to see the state of the verges in what we are called ‘the garden of England.’

"I have never seen verges littered like they are now.

"Why have they been left to get into such a disgusting state! It’s about time the council took this matter in hand and started clearing them up."

Through Freedom of Information requests, Mr Lucas has discovered that the borough's contractors Urbaser normally have a team of 21 street litter-pickers whose duties also include the emptying of litter and dog waste bins, the removal of fly-tips and the collection of dead animals.

However, David Campbell-Lenaghan, the partnership manager for the South West Kent Waste Partnership, said: "Since the start of the Covid outbreak, two street cleaning staff have been furloughed.

"More staff have been either off sick with Covid or have been self-isolating at various times; or have been redeployed to support our core waste collection services.

"The latter is in accordance with both Urbaser’s Business Continuity Plan and that of TMBC’s Waste and Street Scene Services."

The council additionally employs four full-time officers with the responsibility to investigate littering, dog fouling and fly-tipping and with the power to issue fixed penalty notices against offenders, although these are not their only duties.

In 2020, the council issued just seven fixed penalty notices for littering.

Mr Lucas's campaign can be found here.

His site includes a live map showing sites of reported littering.

Tonbridge and Malling council has its own site for reporting instances of littering here.

Read more: All the latest news from Malling

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