REPORTS of fly tipping, overgrown hedges, littering and dog fouling have all increased, according to the Labour group on the city council.

Cllr Danny Myers, the group’s environment spokesman and Clifton ward councillor, claimed the council is also missing its own target on responding to street cleaning requests.

He criticised the Conservative and Liberal Democrat administration’s performance.

He said: “Fly tipping reports have increased 62 per cent since these parties took control of the council.

"Reports of weeds and overgrown hedges have doubled since 2015, while street cleansing cases related to dog fouling and litter have leapt 69 per cent over the same period.

“And under the previous Labour council 90 per cent of street cleansing cases were dealt with in the expected time.

"This is now averaging at 75 per cent this year and more than one in four public realm cleansing cases are also missing the council’s own agreed target.

“It’s very clear to see the value Labour will place on clean streets that residents can take pride in should Labour be running the council come May.”

At a full City of York Council budget meeting on February 28, Labour called for an extra £80,000 to be spent on cleaning areas outside of the city centre, with the money to be spent on staff and vehicles.

But, speaking at the meeting, Conservative council leader Ian Gillies highlighted plans for an extra £340,000 to be spent on waste and street cleansing.

He said: “We’re making investments in key priority areas.”

Deputy council leader, Liberal Democrat, Andrew Waller said: “The growth in the waste and street cleaning budget is a recognition of the investment that was made last June that was judiciously used and has proven its worth and so we are keeping this in the budget.”

Fellow Lib Dem, councillor Ann Reid, said: “The Labour group are not proposing reversing any of the savings in our budget but only seek to top-up the budget at residents’ expense.

“Labour’s record in administration also shows that our frontline services often suffer under their management.”

Labour’s budget proposals were not approved.

But as part of the group’s manifesto, councillors say they would roll out a next day response to fly tipping reports rather than the current six-day wait.

They also say they would commit to responding to missed bin collections within 24 hours.

They would also commit to providing two free bulky waste collections a year for residents.