After weeks of complaints and a public outcry over the dirty state of Aberystwyth, the town’s mayor has made his first public comments on the furore.

Cllr Talat Chaudhri reached out to Cambrian News four weeks after the first Special Report on ‘Dirty old town’ went to press or appeared online, saying he hadn’t been in touch because emails went to his spam folder.

But now that he has found those emails asking about the state of the town, this is what he has to say, and what the town council is doing to address them…

“This is quite a complex matter.

“The core responsibility for cleaning the town’s streets and promenade rests with Ceredigion County Council, not Aberystwyth Town Council.­

“However, you will see from my further response below that we are nevertheless acting to improve the situation considerably, as I will outline.

“I should add that I understand that the county council does employ more litter pickers and sweeps streets more often than previously.

“As you will appreciate, I can only speak for Aberystwyth Town Council, which is not the local authority in Ceredigion.

“The town council operates on a far smaller budget than county council and can only provide certain services, albeit rather more than most community councils can. Examples include allotments and growing spaces, playgrounds and certain parks.

“Please note that the mayor is not a member of the county council but of the town council.

“Aberystwyth Town Council borrowed Ceredigion County Council’s jet-washing equipment at first but, despite it not being a core part of our responsibilities, we have now purchased our own washing equipment and are already embarking upon an ongoing and permanent programme of cleaning streets in addition to what the county council does, and in collaboration with them.

“We have employed a member of staff for this purpose, who picks up litter beforehand so as not to wash it into the drains and eventually into the sea.

“Contrary to comments that I have seen that we only did this for the National Eisteddfod, our intention is to continue with this cleaning, and we never intended to limit this activity purely to the period of the Eisteddfod.

“It is very difficult to deal with the widespread issue of dog fouling or to provide evidence to the police when offences occur.

“We do clean it up as part of our street washing programme.

“I would urge residents to take note of any such offences and speak to those responsible, or to report it confidentially, as it is an offence not to pick up dog waste.

“It impacts very seriously on people’s health. It does not help if people then throw the dog waste bags into the bushes, as this only makes it even more difficult to deal with.

“I have lost track of the number of times that the town council has discussed the matter.

“It is irresponsible behaviour on the part of a very small minority of dog owners, so I would like to thank our responsible dog owners personally for cleaning up properly.

“We need to work as a community to persuade the small minority who are creating the problem to do the same.

“I am aware, for example, of some recent instances around the Buarth area – but the issue affects streets all over town and it is simply impossible to have eyes on every part of town at all hours.

“Though I no longer have a dog myself, I personally carry dog waste bags and pick up dog waste at times, as much as one individual can hope to contribute privately.

“If perhaps others were willing to help me with this too, it would certainly help - but we must not excuse the offenders or give them the idea that they can get away with it, for others to pick up.

“I notice that the original comments – perhaps in jest! – make mention of the grey beach. This, being a matter of geology, is rather beyond human control! Natural waste such as wood and seaweed forms an important part of the ecosystem.

“Problems arise, however, when litter is washed into drains and out to sea, some of which ends up on our beaches.

“I have personally been round town picking up rubbish with my political party, with other councillors, and with other community groups on numerous occasions and continue to do so. I thank all those who contribute to making our town tidier.

“Another problem with the visual aspect of the town, the state of private property such as empty shops, hotels or badly maintained housing, is also outside the hands of either council. Nobody can legally force people to pay for work on their own properties, except in the case where it becomes a danger to passers-by: in that case, the county council does have limited enforcement powers.

“We are not legally allowed to intrude into business and commercial matters, as this could show unequal treatment of businesses and would create conflicts of interests.

“We can of course work by persuasion within the community, and all councillors talk to their residents and encourage improvements in general.

“We often represent individual residents on matters that are the responsibility of the county council.

“Another area in which we have worked hard is in planting street trees, in addition to what the county council does.

“We have also provided a new park, Maes Gwenfrewi, in North Road, taken over the children’s playgrounds in order to keep them open and developed the highly successful skatepark and wildlife areas in Parc Kronberg.

“We are also taking over responsibility for flowers and will be substantially restoring a great part of the provision that was lost to county council budget cuts, driven by a massive reduction in their block grant from central government over a number of years.

“We provide Christmas lights and have an ongoing programme of extending that coverage too.”

“An area of problems arises with food waste being discarded, particularly chips and chip boxes.

“This attracts seagulls and rats, which create further mess.

“Again, Ceredigion County Council is responsible for waste management. We have invested in additional bins wherever possible within our budget, even though this is normally a matter for the local authority rather than us.

“We continue to work with the county council wherever we can.

“Aberystwyth Town Council funded a number of the murals that have appeared around the town, which have been very well received.

“I would like to point out that Aberystwyth is, and remains, a beautiful town of which I am very proud.

“I thank community groups, for example Caru Aber and the many groups who pick up litter, for their contributions to keeping our town tidy.

“I do not deny, of course, that there are problems and challenges.

“Town councillors are unpaid and give up a great deal of their time to improve the town for our residents.

“We work through a whole range of community groups in addition to what we provide ourselves, whom I would also like to thank profoundly for their work.

“But what we really need to do as a community is to campaign for better central funding for local government so that the burden does not increasingly fall on stretched council tax payers.

“The town council has been doing its part to clean the streets and make Aberystwyth a better place to live.”