A WEST Devon resident was angered to see his disabled neighbour doing a job he believes should be undertaken by the parish and borough councils.

Ken Austin from Bere Alston saw his neighbour, Brian Franklin, on his mobility scooter, cleaning weeds and rubbish from the edge of pavements, and buying his own weed killer to do so.

Mr Austin told the Times: 'I was so incensed with this. We are all paying our council tax to have this and other street cleaning jobs done, but this is all wrong. I suppose it's a shortage of funds as usual. What a disgrace.

'This is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, but at the moment it's disgusting, and what with all the dog mess as well, it's horrendous.

'The bottom end of Cornwall Street is so overgrown it needs serious work done to bring it up to scratch.

'Come on, councillors, both borough and parish, get your act together.'

Mr Franklin said: 'The problem is, like many other areas, I'm sure, that the gutters of the roads are in an appalling condition. There are certain areas that are quite untidy with sweet wrappers, plastic bottles and rubbish thrown around.

'I think it's an absolute disgrace and the authorities should be ashamed of themselves. All we're asking is to put some weed-killer down once a year. Two men on a vehicle with insecticides could do the whole village in one day.'

Mr Franklin said more effort by people in Bere Alston would help. 'I think there is a bit of apathy in England as a whole thinking, "why should I bother?" but if we all made a bit more effort it would make such a difference.'

'The authorities always use cutbacks as an excuse. Even if we had a meagre £1 increase on our community charge to deal with this, I'm sure the average person would have no objection to it.'

West Devon Borough Councillor Mike Benson, a ward member for the area, said the street cleaning scheme was predominantly on Fore Street and from just before the parish hall up to Hope Cottage.

'Obviously, there have been cutbacks but it is definitely something that the parish and borough councils need to look at coming into the future and through the Localism Act.'

Cllr Benson said residents on the Continent have to keep the area outside their houses clean and tidy by law and perhaps the community could look more closely into doing more for itself.

'I think generally the community needs to be more self-reliant. People shouldn't throw rubbish into the streets and I know the parish council is working to acquire two more litter bins to place around the village to encourage people to dispose of their rubbish more sensibly.'

He said the council was not allowed to weed spray anymore because because of the risk of chemicals getting into the water supply.

'The only way is for someone to dig up all the weeds, which is more labour-intensive.

'I am very sorry for the gentleman who had to clear the gutters but it is a difficult issue. It is a rural community and there are limited people to do the job.'