A town hall campaign targeting fly-tippers and illegal dumpers in the borough has been accused of being a PR stunt for the forthcoming council elections.

Brent & Kilburn Times: Brent Lib Dems are claiming the council's fly-tipping blitz is a PR stuntBrent Lib Dems are claiming the council's fly-tipping blitz is a PR stunt (Image: Archant)

Brent Council launched a blitz in December warning offenders they could be thrown in prison for up to five years or face a maximum fine of £50,000.

Brent & Kilburn Times: Brent Lib Dems are claiming the council's fly-tipping blitz is a PR stuntBrent Lib Dems are claiming the council's fly-tipping blitz is a PR stunt (Image: Archant)

Cllr Muhammed Butt, leader of the council, visited Lyon Park Avenue in Wembley, which has become highlighted as a hotpsot, where he joined street cleaning crews to clean up the street to highlight the campaign.

Brent & Kilburn Times: Cllr Muhammed Butt with Veolia staff and Brent Council officers in Lyon Park AvenueCllr Muhammed Butt with Veolia staff and Brent Council officers in Lyon Park Avenue (Image: London Borough Brent has full license to use this image for it's purposes.)

However Cllr Paul Lorber, leader of the Brent Liberal Democrats, claims the council have failed to make a noticeable difference to the area.

Claiming that he uncovered more than five dumps in just one street in Wembley days after Cllr Butt was in the area, he added: “It will take more than a few news releases and a couple of photos to clean up our streets.

“Because of Labour councillors residents have their streets swept less often and their rubbish collected less often. Labour hasn’t dealt with back garden developments where residents do not have bins at all.

“Brent residents deserve Liberal Democrat councillors who will make cleaning up our streets a priority from day one.”

As part of their campaign the council have designated a sweeper to all 21 wards in Brent and cleansing will take place on Saturday and Sunday afternoons in town centres and residential streets.

In response to Cllr Lorber claims, Cllr Butt told the Times: “Cleaning up our streets is a major priority for me and my team. That’s why we earlier this month introduced 28 extra street sweepers across the borough, and why we’ve launched an aggressive campaign to tackle fly-tipping.

“If Cllr Lorber should happen to come across a fly-tip in Brent in future, he should call our hotline on 020 8937 5050 instead of cynically trying to score political points from the sidelines.”