Town hall efforts to keep high street litter bins clean are, frankly, rubbish - according to Douglas Council leader David Christian.

Mr Christian, who is boss of Heritage Cleaners, stressed that his firm had never bid for any council contracts. But he hit out at the state of public bins in the capital.

An environmental quality survey found that while, overall, the borough had a high standard of cleanliness, the most disappointing aspect had been the state of litter bins.

The environmental services committee has proposed ’accelerating’ its current programme to replace the bins.

But Mr Christian told Wednesday’s council meeting: ’I don’t know why we can’t get it right.

’It doesn’t matter how much you spend on bins, if no one is prepared to put in place a regime for cleaning them.

’They are filthy.’

He said he was particularly concerned by dirty bins outside commercial premises and in the regenerated areas of Strand Street.

’Those in the shopping area should be cleaned every day,’ he added. ’Some are smelling.

’There needs to be a schedule for cleaning them.’

Committee chairman Ritchie McNicholl said he shared Mr Christian’s concerns.

Earlier this year, Douglas Council won a quality improvement award from the Keep Britain Tidy campaign for its introduction of bins with sensors, to detect the level and frequency of use, so that bin emptying could be programmed according to demand, rather than by a schedule.

But Mr McNicholl conceded that sensors might not address the problem of smell, for instance, if a small amount of food waste was put in a bin.