THE waste collection services Barrow Borough Council pays a private firm to carry out have been laid bare after The Mail obtained a copy of the £14m seven-year contract.

More than 17,000 metres of road across Barrow, Dalton and Askam should be cleaned three times a week, 391 street bins should be emptied every single day and 1,463 metres of public footpaths should be cleared once a week by FCC Environment.

The £2m-a-year contract stipulates exactly what the council expects from FCC on a daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly or bi-annual basis.

On top of providing a weekly household wheelie bin collection to 33,500 homes, a fortnightly kerbside collection for recycling material and a bulky household goods collection, FCC is contracted to carry out street cleaning.

It is the perceived reduction of street cleaning which has led many residents to criticise the council and FCC.

The contract stipulates:

Four recycling sites must be cleaned every day, 9,503 metres of backstreets including Ainslie Street must be cleared of litter every two weeks and 9,531 metres of pedestrian areas including Portland Walk must be cleaned three times a week.

Back streets including Cross Street, School Street and Marsh Street must be cleaned twice a week while bins in Dalton Road, Duke Street and Devonshire Road and 388 others are to be emptied every day.

All back streets should be cleaned at least once every five weeks although many are weekly or fortnightly and pedestrian areas in Cavendish Street, Dalton Road, Harley Street, Oldham Street, Scott Street and William Street are to be cleaned three times a week.

Car parks in Church Street, Emlyn Street, Fell Street, Market Street, Whittaker Street, Nelson Street, Oldham Street, Slater Street, Tudor Square in Dalton and Barrow's roof-top car park are to be cleaned twice a week.

The following roads are to be cleaned once a week: Ainslie Street, Arnside Street, Arthur Street, Church Street, Harrison Street, James Street, Lindal Street, Lord Street, Marsh Street, Mount Pleasant, Ocean Road, Paradise Street, Risedale Road, Roose Road, Silverdale Street, St George's Square, Storey Square, Sutherland Street and Ulverston Road in Dalton.

The amount the council was prepared to pay for the waste collection - between £1.8m and £2.5m a year, was significantly lower than previous contracts, which council bosses have admitted was a cost-saving exercise.

The amount the council was prepared to pay for street cleaning has also significantly reduced and The Mail can also reveal that FCC has not, outside of the initial three-month settling-in period, done anything which would warrant a financial penalty.

The Mail has also obtained the identities of the other companies which put in a tender for the work.

Urbaser Ltd, Veolin, Suez, Biffa and Continental Landscapes were all in the running for the contract, which was awarded to FCC on a purely cost basis as their tender was the cheapest.

Assistant director Keith Johnson has previously said when questioned about the level of waste collection services: "Over the period to 2020, the council’s annual operating budget will fall by £2.7m.

"Elected members approved a package of measures aimed at achieving this extremely challenging reduction.

"In re-tendering this major contract, the council had to make savings, and there have been some reductions made in the frequencies that some parts of the borough are swept."

The contract also reveals that 80 per cent of the income generated by selling recyclable material collected from homes goes to the council while FCC gets 20 per cent.

FCC has told The Mail they will respond in full by Monday to the issues raised.