Havering Council was accused of "deliberately neglecting" Romford town centre at a meeting.

Conservative councillor Viddy Persaud quizzed cabinet member Barry Mugglestone on the state of the town at the full council meeting on November 20.

Cllr Persaud asked: "Could the cabinet member for the environment please give an explanation as to why Romford town centre continues to be blighted by fly-tipping, overflowing bins, graffiti and street beggars/bedding contributing to an overall impression of deliberate neglect on the part of the administration?"

Cllr Mugglestone told the meeting that FCC Environment, the council's waste partner and contractor, has staff stationed in Romford town centre seven days a week.

MORE NEWS: Plans for eight new homes on green belt deemed 'unduly cramped'

He said: "The performance on fly tip reports shows that over 99 per cent are removed on time in Romford town centre. Depending on the location, the target is as little as two hours."

Cllr Mugglestone defended the council's fly-tipping responseCllr Mugglestone defended the council's fly-tipping response (Image: Havering Council) Cllr Mugglestone encouraged the public to report cases of graffiti, fly-tipping and overflowing bins to the My Havering web page to help the council address the issues promptly. 

"We are aware of the impact that litter and fly-tipping has on our communities and the overall cleanliness of our borough.

"This is why we have recently launched our new campaign Where We Live.

"It aims to empower communities to take pride in their neighbourhoods by actively taking part in community clean-ups, litter picks, reporting fly-tipping and helping us to make Havering a cleaner and safer place to be."

Cllr Mugglestone claims that fly tipping can be picked up in less than two hours depending on the locationThe council has launched its Where We Live campaign (Image: Havering Council) He labelled homelessness and begging a "national problem" and "not exclusive to Romford".

"Many of our rough sleepers have complex needs or do not always want to take up the offer of accommodation.

"Therefore getting them into stable, permanent accommodation and supporting them to stay there isn't straight forward.

"The council is also publishing regular communications around the work we are doing to help rough sleepers off the street."