Surprise £5m cashback to be spent on big clean-up

Three-quarters of the people who responded to a budget consultation said more needed to be spent on street cleaning

An unexpected £5m windfall will be used to clean up the streets of Manchester.

Manchester City Council (MCC) said it received a £5.4m rebate from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority's waste reserve.

Bosses said they would use £4.6m to clean streets, tackle fly tipping, improve green spaces and collect leaves.

Another £400,000 will be used to overturn a decision, taken last year, to start charging for replacement recycling bins from this April.

The remaining £338,000 will be spent on cracking down on mould and damp in homes rented out by private landlords.

More than three-quarters of people who responded to a recent budget consultation said they wanted more money spent on street cleaning.

Councillor Rabnawaz Akbar, executive member for finance at MCC, said: "We are pleased to be in a position where we can deliver a budget that works for Manchester people."

The council's finances also have been helped by an increase in government grants to the city.

But town hall bosses are still set to increase council tax by 4.99% — the most they can put it up without having a referendum.

Councillors need to make £18m of savings to balance the books, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Akbar has said frontline services will not be hit, with "efficiency savings and income generation" being used to bridge the gap.

The budget is set to be approved by the council's Labour executive on Wednesday 19 February, before all councillors vote on the plans on 28 February.