Making a clean sweep of Wick's streets with top of the range technology
On Monday evening, a report was submitted to Wick's community council with regard to a mechanical street sweeper that has been ordered for the town.
Wick and East Caithness councillor Raymond Bremner gave updates on local matters at the meeting of the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council (RBWCC) and said the new street sweeper was "long overdue" for the town.
In his report Cllr Bremner said: "I asked about a mechanical sweeping/cleaning machine for the town and, together with the RBWCC, we have looked to see if we can invest in better machinery to do the job of street cleaning in the town centre.
"At a meeting of the full council at the end of last year, I stated about the discussions we had to agree the medium term capital plan. That plan agreed investment in capital machinery. The good news is that, having followed up with officers over the past couple of days to see if this can happen, I've been informed that new machines will be ordered in this new financial year and one will be destined for here in Caithness."
The councillor's report continued: "As I understand it, the order has been placed and I hope that they will be available in stock. One of the concerns I had was that if we are undertaking ancillary works in the town in the next few weeks, we need to keep the place clean and we need the equipment to do it. The mechanical street sweeper will help assist that.”
The proposed vehicle is a Swingo 200+ sold by German company Schmidt which calls it "the ideal solution for daily cleaning jobs on footpaths and cycle paths in inner-city areas, as well as in industrial areas or car parks". It also states that optional attachments enable clearing and spraying in winter maintenance, sink drains, high pressure cleaning and weed control. The Swingo 200+ enables "sustainable and efficient sweeping" at low cost over its product life cycle. See promotional video below of the vehicle in operation:
Cllr Bremner told the Groat: “It’s great that we are investing in this type of machinery. It is long overdue. Our streets need to look a lot better than they currently are, especially after winter gritting. I hope that we can look at further investment in similar machinery to keep our streets and town centre clean.”
