Street cleaning hit squads for inner city communities have been axed because national funding has dried up.
Leeds council has said the grant which funded a team of 20 has ended and the authority says it cannot afford to pick up the bill to extend it.
Although normal street-cleaning will continue, a dedicated squad of eight mobile teams which targeted inner-city areas in need of greater attention has been disbanded.
Part of the teams' work in inner-city neighbourhoods was to inspire residents by example to appreciate how pleasant their environment can be if it is kept clean and tidy.
Beeston resident Lorette Spring said services like this were vital to communities like hers. She added:
"It's a cut that hurts people who can least afford it. Places like Beeston benefited from services like this - it helped to keep the streets clean and dealt with problems like dumping.
"I had a mattress dumped at the end of the street and dozens of bags of rubbish - things like that need tackling."
The 20-strong staff have been found other jobs within Leeds council's Streetscene service after the cash was withdrawn. They have been redeployed to posts held vacant since previous workers left.
Grant funding has ended
A government-funded Local Public Service Agreement (LPSA) grant which paid for the programme has now ended and the council has said it cannot afford to come up with cash to replace it. However, it is stressing that standard street cleaning services will stay the same.
Councillor Tom Murray, executive member for environmental services, said:
"We're pledging to do our best to keep streets in the inner-city as clean as we can. Unfortunately, however, there has been an unexpected cut in government funding which leaves us little money to do more.
"The mobile street cleaning teams provided a fantastic, high-quality rapid response in areas that needed it most and really contributed towards improving the quality of life in neighbourhoods by making the environment more pleasant.
"So it is with deep regret that we have had to disband these teams. Unfortunately we simply do not have the money to fund the service ourselves now this funding has been taken away, especially when in the current financial climate we are being asked to reduce spending, not increase it."
The mobile street cleaning teams were originally known as neighbourhood management pride teams and played a major role in improving environmental quality, street cleaning and in supporting crime and grime initiatives.
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