Episode 3 Call the Council

From rubbish and recycling...

..to potholes and pavements.

-Another street down, another street to go.

-Educating our children...

-Fantastic!

-..and caring for the elderly.

It does make a difference when you see what can be achieved.

We rely on our local councils to provide a huge range of services.

You may kiss the bride.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

In this series, we follow front-line staff

working for Wigan Council in Greater Manchester.

Oh, sorry!

Like council offices across the country,

-they're protecting us from hidden dangers...

-Oh, dear.

..stepping in when there's an emergency...

-You never know what you're turning up to.

-All right.

-Thank you.

-..and responding to residents...

-Good job done.

..when they call the council.

Coming up on today's programme,

help for a resident who's got rats in her roof.

Rats and mice chew through cables. I don't want going up in smoke.

Rubbish on the street. Council officers chase the fly-tippers.

It's a blot on the landscape, looking at it. It's just ridiculous.

And, after 100 years,

the council gives a local war hero the homecoming he never had.

Today is a very special day

to remember and honour a truly remarkable man.

Wigan lies 20 miles west of Manchester.

The borough's home to over 300,000 people.

The backbone of the community is the council.

Fran speaking, how can I help?

Its aim is to support and improve

the lives of everyone that lives here.

Any problems, just give us a call back, OK?

Calls to the council about core services,

like waste and highways, are dealt with by staff at Wigan's superdepot.

Each job's different,

so each job, I'm not getting bored

because I'll go from a camera survey to a repair,

from a repair to a soil stack, so I'm doing varied work all day.

Tommy Robinson sorts out stuff that starts under ground.

As soon as I start walking on the floor, it churns it up.

I actually think it's...maybe one of the dirtiest jobs on the council.

But a lot of people do appreciate you turning up

and sorting their problems out.

I do get pride out my job. I do enjoy what I do.

Today, Tommy's been sent to two homes on the outskirts of town

to investigate a rat problem.

Brief history about this one.

I've been, on a couple of occasions,

following pest control.

So, I'm going to do a full camera survey on both bungalows.

Lynn McSpirit and her next door neighbour called the council

after hearing scuffling noises in their shared roof space.

First time I heard them, I was in the kitchen

putting the kettle on and, where the light is in the kitchen,

they were right in the middle, where the wire comes down into your light.

And I'm thinking, "Rats and mice chew through cables.

"I don't want going up in smoke."

I hope she's got the kettle on.

Council officers have been called here several times before

but the rats keep coming back.

We're hoping we can get the situation finally sorted out

and get rid of them.

Tommy wants to find out, once and for all,

how they're getting into the roof.

-Are you hearing them in the kitchen?

-I have heard them.

-Below not above?

-I've only heard them this year.

-Yeah.

I've smelt them,

but smelling them and hearing them is two different things.

What I'll do, then, is I'll concentrate next door first,

cos I've got a feeling it's coming from next door.

Tommy and his colleague, Dean Rigby,

start investigations at the bungalow next door to Lynn's.

They've brought along the full toolkit,

including the CCTV drains inspection camera.

Tommy soon picks up signs

that unwanted visitors are close to the house.

I'm just having a look to see if there's any activity,

regarding rats...and there is.

I can see footprints and what have you.

Sack that one for the time being. Let's carry on with this connection.

The special camera gives Tommy a rodent's-eye view

of what's going on down the drain.

The pictures will, hopefully, reveal how rats

are getting from the drain to the wall cavity and up into the roof.

Experts estimate there are now up to ten million rats

living in urban areas of Britain.

Rats in the roof are a serious problem.

They chew through wood and wires,

causing structural damage, even fires.

-Tommy thinks he's found something...

-Hmm, look at you.

# Dur, da-ra, da. #

..a break in the drainage pipe.

It's not like that, it's like that.

So...any little moggy can get up there,

start digging to go round...

..and make its way into the bathroom area.

Further investigation's needed,

in case the rats have found more pathways into the roof space.

Just flush toilet cock, please.

TOILET FLUSHES

Still to come...

Are rats tunnelling through Lynn's drain as well?

Tommy goes down under to find out more.

It's what I get paid for.

I don't mind it. I'd bathe in this stuff, if I could!

Rubbish is a multimillion-pound problem for our local councils.

Last year, they were called out

to more than three-quarters of a million incidents

of illegally dumped waste.

Two out of three cases involved fly-tipped rubbish

from people's homes.

Hello, Waste Services. Mark Farrimond speaking. Hello, yeah.

You want to report fly-tipping?

Environmental Enforcement Officer Mark Farrimond

is getting ready for another busy day on the road.

I've got a variety of jobs and quite interesting

because, with the fly-tipping,

each day, you never know what you're going to find.

Mark's heading out to the front line

to fight Wigan Council's ongoing battle

to keep the streets clean and safe.

The first job for today is we've had a report of some fly-tipping

by a neighbour in the town centre of Wigan.

Their house backs onto the area.

Fly-tipping's on this area somewhere.

That's where I've been told it is.

Oh, it's here, it's here, in the corner.

This is sort of typical of a fly-tip.

You've got different sorts of waste.

A lot of it could be windblown litter, really, which is...

It doesn't look good, but there is, certainly,

some bags of stuff around here.

It's a blot on the landscape, looking at it. It's just ridiculous.

It's going to cost some to clean up

and, if there was any foodstuff in all this,

it would be ideal harbourage for rodents.

Before Mark investigates further, a local resident's come over

to warn him about used needles in the rubbish.

I've just come to let you know that there's always people,

-smackheads that I always see.

-Oh, right.

-They're here quite a lot.

They tend to sleep here. Just thought I'd let you know.

It's always handy, and if there's some drug paraphernalia in there,

-we'll have a look.

-Yep.

And if I need to, I'll get the sharps lads out.

-Be careful yourself, as well.

-Yeah, thanks for that.

-All right, thank you. See you.

-Bye.

You come across some decent people,

there's no doubt about that, doing our job.

She didn't have to come over and warn me, but she did do.

Old quilt cover.

Mark sifts through the rubbish.

There might be information, like an old address,

that could lead him to the fly-tippers.

We love, in our game, cardboard packaging.

Sometimes there's a label on the packaging, or whatever,

and it usually gives you a positive line of inquiry.

There's a label on this bag, which is...

It's that badly disintegrated, you can't really make it out.

So, that would have been handy.

It's very frustrating when you can't find anything in waste,

especially the amount that's here.

The people that do this really can... It annoys you,

because it's now mixed up in all the trees,

so it's going to make it harder to get it cleaned up

and it's just a blight on the landscape.

It's been a difficult first job but, for unexpected reasons,

it could be Mark's lucky day.

Look at that.

Just think, if that's a winner now and I've just picked that up.

Every cloud has a silver lining. You never know with that, do you?

I can honestly say I've never found a lottery ticket in waste.

That's a first, that, defo. That's definitely a first.

Coming up, Mark has a mystery to solve.

Why is this bin empty and the rubbish left outside?

This should be in a waste bin like that, a commercial waste bin.

Hi, mate, I'm from Wigan Council.

Nearly 5,000 council staff deliver a wide range of services

to the borough of Wigan and its residents.

David Heyes speaking. 'We're a diverse bunch of people here.

'We do lots of different jobs.'

It's only when people realise the work you do,

they realise the importance

and the contribution you make to the community.

But David Heyes' job at the council is more unusual than most.

I am responsible for naming streets and numbering properties,

so I create every new address in the borough

and have done so for the last ten years.

I feel very proud to do my job because I'll leave a sense of legacy

in the areas where there's new street names.

David's job is all about preserving local history.

His latest project is a campaign

to honour local heroes from World War I.

Soldiers from the Wigan area,

awarded the Victoria Cross medal for bravery,

are having a street or a local landmark named after them.

A lot of our World War I heroes did outstanding acts of bravery

that provide the lifestyle that we live now,

so it's more important than ever

that the council remembers these people,

specifically involving the local community

and the younger generation, so they have the history

and understand what their forefathers did for them.

Private William Kenealy VC came from Ashton-in-Makerfield.

Today, his family, great-nephew William and wife Linda,

are at the local library that will honour his name.

That's where it's going to be. It's in there now.

It's covered up with plywood cos we don't want people seeing it.

In a few days, a memorial stone will be unveiled,

facing the town where Private Kenealy used to live.

Just looks straight into the town there.

On Remembrance Sunday, they walk down here

and they walk through the town, so it's in a cracking spot, isn't it?

-Absolutely belting spot.

-We just want the weather

to be as good as this now on Wednesday, don't we?

The Victoria Cross is Britain's highest award

for bravery in the face of the enemy.

628 VCs were awarded in World War I.

Four of them were given to soldiers from the Wigan area.

This is the Victoria Cross, David.

-That's the VC?

-That's the VC.

-Right.

From the reading I've done, they're very rarely awarded,

-Victoria Crosses.

-Yes.

You have to provide some outstanding feat of bravery.

Private Kenealy was awarded his Victoria Cross

for his extraordinary courage at the Gallipoli landings.

His present-day relatives have done research into what happened.

The battalion went off to Egypt, initially, and then onto Gallipoli.

On the morning of 25th April, they arrived, by ship,

and they were all put onto rowing boats to get onto the beaches.

Heavy machine-gun from the Turks started.

Absolutely all hell broke loose.

Lots of the men were killed in the boats.

As they got to the edge of the sea,

they realised that it was completely covered in barbed wire

underneath the water,

so what William did was he volunteered

to belly-crawl through the water

and to try to cut the wire entanglements, the barbed wire.

GUNSHOTS

Eventually, they did get through the barbed wire,

they got onto the beach and they took position on the cliff.

That's what their aim was.

And William, along with five other members of the platoon,

were nominated by colleagues for the VCs,

which are now famously known as the "six VCs before breakfast",

and the W Beach is now known as the Lancashire Landing.

As well as the memorial stone, Private Kenealy will have

the children's section of the library named after him.

Obviously, it's covered up now to keep things secret,

but that's the partition.

I want to give you a sneak peak but I don't think you want that.

-No, we don't.

-OK.

The memorial has special meaning for his family.

Private Kenealy never returned home to Ashton.

He died from war injuries at the age of 29.

Ashton was waiting for him to come home.

They were all getting ready for this big celebration with the banners

and then, unfortunately, he didn't come home.

William Kenealy's family received a personal letter of condolence

from King George V.

"It is a matter of sincere regret to me

"that the death of Private William Kenealy deprived me

"of the pride of personally conferring upon him

"the Victoria Cross, the greatest of all military distinctions.

"George."

-That's a very important letter, that.

-Yeah.

Reading that letter there,

makes me feel really proud I'm employed by the council

and I'm providing such a fitting tribute

and lasting memory to William.

Coming up, local schoolchildren pay their own special tribute

to the Victoria Cross hero.

"Please tell everyone I'm missing them and hope to be back soon."

Rats in the roof are giving Lynn McSpirit

and her next door neighbour sleepless nights.

The noises, the scratching in the attic...

..on the ceiling.

Drainage investigation operative Tommy Robinson thinks

the rats are getting in through a crack in one of the drains.

Any little moggy can get up there, start digging to go round...

..and make its way into the bathroom area.

Tommy now needs to check out Lynn's house

to make sure there are no more places for the rats to get in.

I just want to get the toilet connector,

so I can fit the camera down the back of it.

It's dirty, time-consuming work, but at least Lynn's got the kettle on.

Digestives, Bourbons, ginger nuts...

-Do you not take them out?

-Do you know...?

-How many?

-Four.

-Oh, you can have five cos that top one might not be...

-Four dozen!

Tommy's tea break is over.

If I try and push it from up here, it's not going to do it.

Not going to go.

Having checked for any danger,

he's wading into waste water to find out more.

It's what I get paid for, my wages. I don't mind it.

I'd bathe in this stuff, if I could!

Ooh, he's down there. Careful. Man in hole!

Found three cats, a dog and a squirrel, but no rats!

You should have sent HIM down. He's thinner than you!

I'm happy with that one.

There was a bit of a lip but it's not showing any gaps,

so I'm going to put that one to bed.

The rats can't get into Lynn's house through these pipes,

but Tommy still needs to put a temporary seal

on the drain next door.

Yeah, very pleased with how he's doing and what they're doing.

And it's been nice having visitors. Very nice.

I love banter. Can't beat banter.

Without having banter, your days are eight hours long.

If you're having banter and you're working at the same time,

it goes a lot quicker.

Coming up, Tommy returns to repair the broken drain

but will it be enough to get rid of the rats?

Environmental enforcement officer Mark Farrimond is investigating

calls to the council about fly-tipped rubbish.

A promising find from the last job is tucked safely away

under the dashboard.

I got a lottery ticket out of the waste,

which, you never know, I could strike gold with that.

But there's no time for daydreaming.

Reports have come in about bags of food waste piled up in an alleyway.

Not good. Look at this.

The waste was found by the council cleansing team

while they were emptying residents' bins.

The waste lads have been down here, moving some rubbish from the bottom,

and they've come across this,

as they've been moving that other rubbish.

They can see it's commercial, so they wouldn't pick that up anyway.

Mark wants to check out the purple waste bin

where the bags should have been placed.

Purple bin's been emptied.

There's an issue now, that why's all this waste gathered here,

if that purple bin's been emptied?

They should be in a waste bin like that, a commercial waste bin.

It's a mystery, but Mark has an idea where he can find some answers.

It's not rocket science where this has come from,

looking at these bags with the Chinese writing on.

I'm going to go and visit the Chinese restaurant

just down the road now and see if there's anybody there

and make some notes.

Hi, mate. I'm from Wigan Council.

Mark's found some of the takeaway staff.

That waste, those bags, they'll be moved, will they?

But he needs to speak to the manager.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Yes?

-Yes, right.

-Is that about the bin?

-Yes.

-Right.

-And it's also about the waste outside.

-OK, I'll show you why...

-Do you want to come in here? I'll show you why.

-OK.

Someone's managed to reach her on the phone.

Time for Mark to get to the bottom of what's going on.

This Friday, he say this bin's broken, he couldn't empty the bin.

-I see.

-And then he say Monday, he coming to change the bin.

-OK, right.

-He didn't coming.

It turns out the purple bin is broken.

Takeaway manager May Yu has been trying to get

a private waste contractor to remove it

-and bring a new one.

-Can you ask?

-Can you phone and ask for me because he's not listening to me?

-Yes.

He just keep on saying he's coming to change the bin

but he did not come.

Perhaps Mark can help speed things up a bit.

Hello, my name's Mark Farrimond.

I work for Waste Services at Wigan Council.

I'm ringing you on behalf of Wang's on Orrell Road at Orrell...

A phone call to the contractors

will hopefully get that broken bin collected and replaced.

I'm under the impression she's rung you a few times,

to be honest with you.

Can Mark get the contractors to put a new bin in place

so the alleyway can be cleaned up?

-Bye. Right, what they want you to do...

-Yeah.

-They're going to replace this bin on Monday.

-Yeah.

What they've said is put your waste in this bin

and then they'll take that on Monday and give you a new bin.

May rallies her team and gets the waste into the bin straightaway.

Thanks to Mark,

she should have the new one delivered in a few days' time.

-Then Monday, phew, it's gone.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you. Thanks.

One satisfied customer.

Mark just helped me phone that company

to sort it out for me

and then he was saying they're coming next Monday.

That was great.

A perfect end to a challenging day.

I always say, "Play the game. The day is what you make it

"and if you think it's going to be hard work, it'll be hard work,

"so get a smile on your face and get going."

Back at the office, there's just one more job to do.

I'm going to log on and I'm going to go online

and check this lottery ticket that we found on that job.

Time to find out if the lottery ticket is a winner.

Is Mark about to become Wigan's new millionaire?

No great luck. Never mind.

Just have to carry on working for the council.

As well as caring for residents,

our councils look after many of the buildings, roads and streets

that we use in our everyday lives.

Last year, around 7p in every £1 of council tax

was spent on street lighting and road repairs.

Our main aim

is to stop accidents from happening,

to stop the public injuring themselves,

stop vehicles being damaged.

Plus, also, if we can catch a defect early enough,

we can actually repair the small defect

instead of making it a bigger repair

and more expensive repair in the long run.

MUSIC: Billie Jean by Michael Jackson

Dancing in the street with a paint can...

..is all part of a regular day's work

for highways inspector Alan Evans.

That's why my boots wear out so quickly, out dancing the shuffle.

But Alan's dots, crosses and strange dance moves have a serious purpose.

They keep the streets safe for pedestrians.

If it rocks, it needs re-laying. That's why you have a dance on them.

Crosses indicate a crack needs a new flag

and the dot indicates it's rocking or uneven and just needs re-laying.

Every working day, Alan walks for miles,

checking up to 30 streets for trip hazards.

That is only going to get bigger and bigger,

so I'm going to get that sorted.

Potholes and uneven flagstones can cause accidents.

-I fell over twice on these things.

-I know.

Last year, UK councils spent £40 million

on road user compensation claims, up 29% in 12 months.

So far, Wigan Council has successfully defended

nine out of ten cases brought against it.

If a member of the public does fall over something,

then we have to go out and measure it and take photographs of it

and, if they decide to sue us,

then we have to appear in court to defend our actions.

Our job is to avoid that situation.

Moving onto Navigation Close.

Damaged pavements and roads are measured.

On Wigan's side streets,

anything deeper than 25mm is classed as a defect.

Alan's had a special block made to speed the measuring process up.

That side's 25mm.

You put that on the floor and it gets you a true measure.

Instead of my tape measure, you're looking down at an angle at it,

but with that, you know exactly where the top level is,

so that's how I measure it.

Another street down, another street to go.

On the move again.

It's a job that calls for top fitness and a tough pair of boots.

Yeah, I've had five pairs of boots in a month.

Alan also investigates calls to the council from local residents

who may have spotted something dangerous.

I've marked a patch up, to come and sort the footway out for you.

Moving onto the back street.

A call's come in about a mysterious hole

that's appeared down an alleyway.

The problem was, the road just sinks.

This pothole appears, don't know why.

The council came to fill it in about six months ago.

It's just appeared again, much larger this time, so...

I think they really need to investigate

what's happened, basically.

The council have mended the hole twice before

but it's opened up again and this time it's bigger.

That's what you call a defect.

Do you know anything about this back street to Twist lane?

This dig-down.

Alan rings a colleague back at the office.

He wants the opening investigated and fixed as soon as possible.

It's getting larger and larger.

I just want to know when the lads are coming down to sort it out.

There are young children,

well, eight, nine, ten years old, playing round there.

It's just a passageway as well. People can just...

Ta-ra. Bye. So, he's down for it, next job.

Hopefully, we'll be able to get it sorted out.

Council workers are soon on site to dig out the hole.

But Alan still needs to find out why it's there in the first place.

It might be caused by a collapsed drain.

They're digging down to see whether the main sewer,

which runs down the middle, is actually collapsed

and that's what's causing it to go again.

If it's a sewer collapse, United Utilities will have to come out

and get something sorted with that.

We'll get it sorted out, one way or another.

If it is a collapsed drain,

it's the local water company's responsibility to sort it out.

Alan needs to monitor the situation closely

until the mystery is resolved.

Across the borough, a soldier awarded

the highest British military award for gallantry

will, today, be honoured by his home town.

Private William Kenealy received the Victoria Cross

for exceptional bravery during World War I.

Today, a memorial stone will be unveiled at Ashton library

and the children's section will be named after him.

Council officer David Heyes is hopeful

that everything will go according to plan.

This is the big day, culmination of a lot of work and effort

by lots of different departments and teams across the council.

The sun's shining, everything's going OK

and I'm quietly confident it's going to be a good turnout and a good day.

Guests include members of Private Kenealy's regiment,

the Lancashire Fusiliers,

war veterans,

local schoolchildren

and the great-nephew who was named after him.

It's something that should be done

for all the people that have come to this ceremony.

And for all the children who's going to go in the library

and see his name, it's fitting. It's fitting for him.

Private Kenealy's 84-year-old nephew Frank is wearing

his uncle's war medals.

Almost time. Sun's shining. I'm pleased.

The memorial ceremony is about to begin.

Good morning, everybody.

Today is a very special day to remember

and honour a truly remarkable man,

a brave man from Ashton, Private William Kenealy VC.

The mayor and great-nephew William unveil the memorial.

APPLAUSE

The second part of the ceremony

is the naming of the children's library.

I now officially rename the children's library

William Kenealy VC Children's Library.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Today, in their own words, local schoolchildren paid tribute

to the men who sacrificed so much in World War I.

"I have made lots of friends. Sadly, most have been killed."

"It is terrifying. Nothing but dead bodies surround me.

"I would do anything to come back home."

"I have been living in a damp, cramped, smelly trench

"with bombs constantly exploding around me."

"PS. Yesterday, you wouldn't believe this.

"We all played a game of football.

"To be honest, the Germans weren't as bad as I expected."

APPLAUSE

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

'For the council to appreciate what he's done is just fantastic.'

-We will remember them.

-ALL:

-We will remember them.

He should be recognised for what he did.

It's been a memorable day for council officer David Heyes

and the family of Private Kenealy,

the local war hero who finally got the homecoming he never had.

I'm sure William, himself, would be pleased. It's really lovely.

We've had a belting day.

Wigan resident Lynn McSpirit called the council about rats in the attic.

We're hoping we can get the situation finally sorted out

and get rid of them.

Drains expert Tommy Robinson found a problem

with the sewage pipe next door.

A slipped joint has given the rats a way into both bungalows.

Any little moggy can get up there, start digging to go round...

..and make its way into the bathroom area.

Today, Tommy's back to, hopefully, fix the problem, once and for all.

It's easy. You just put new paths in, straight to the manhole,

then the old existing drains then just get capped off,

filled in with concrete, so there's no way the rats

are going to ever go up that connection again.

It's a big day for Lynn, who's been putting up with the rats for months.

Have to wait and see what happens, won't we?

Fingers crossed.

There's some serious kit in the back of Tommy's van

and it all takes a battering in the never-ending battle against pests.

I've brought my brush.

I've had that for 18 years.

A broken brush is the least of Tommy's worries.

I've got my best socks on and all.

Next door's toilet needs to be plumbed back into the main sewer.

It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it.

Hello!

At the moment, cos I've got the toilet off,

I've got horrendous smells coming back from the foul drain,

so the quicker I get this done, the better,

because it's getting very putrid at the moment.

Back in the fresh air, Tommy digs a new access gully

to link the toilet back to the main sewer.

Sometimes, whilst digging, I do come across rats.

Um, quite often, I come across the nest.

The mother will then leave the nest and leave the young ones behind.

So, once I come across them, I just dispose of them...gently.

I'll go with that.

# Whoa, whoa, yeah... #

In less than an afternoon, Tommy creates

a whole new drainage system...

# There's a rat in the kitchen What am I gonna do?

-# There's a rat in the kitchen... #

-..with no rodent-sized gaps.

# That's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna fix that rat... #

# Dur, da-da, da. #

All that's left to do now is to cap off the old drain.

I'm just going to fill it up with concrete, literally.

So, when a rat comes now, there's nowhere to go.

They'll never go up this path again.

It's not pretty below ground, but above ground is looking good.

If you do it to a good standard,

you're not going to get any complaints, are you?

No leaks here. Happy.

One new drainage system left tidy, watertight and rat-proof.

It's time to give Lynn the good news.

-Hello, dear.

-Hiya.

It's finished now. Hopefully, that's the end of the rats.

-Everything will be hunky-dory. No more complaints.

-Good. See you.

-I'll see you. Tommy. Good job.

-Ta-ra.

It will be really nice to have a peaceful...quiet bungalow

with no scurrying feet across the ceiling.

It's nice when you get people like this appreciating what you're doing.

Job well done, yeah. Happy.

Highways inspector Alan Evans is dealing with a large hole

that's opened up down an alleyway.

Getting larger and larger,

so I just want to know when the lads are coming down to sort it out.

Council workers were called in to investigate.

Once they dug down,

they realised that the drain from the properties had broke.

Mending the drain became the responsibility

of the local water company.

Today, Alan's returning to the site to see if the work's been done.

The job's been completed

by United Utilities, reinstated to a good standard.

Jim Farrimond is the local resident who called the council for help.

-So, are you satisfied with it?

-I'm quite satisfied.

-After the way it started off where it kept eating everything...

-Yeah.

Small hole, vanished, your man came, filled it in,

-larger hole, vanished.

-Yep.

Well, after the second time, that's why I arranged to have the dig-down.

-All's well that ends well.

-Al's well that ends well.

-This is beautiful.

-So, everything OK?

-Thanks for everything.

-Thanks very much.

-Good job done.

-Thanks very much. See you then. Bye now.

-Cheerio.

One hole mended, one happy resident.

But around every corner, there will always be more potholes

and more trip hazards for Alan to investigate.

Like their colleges nationwide, these council officers are battling

to make the borough a cleaner, safer, better place to live...

Going down.

..going down under to get rid of rats

that gave Lynn sleepless nights...

It will be heaven to have some peace and quiet from them.

..helping takeaway manager May Yu sort her rubbish problem out...

-And then Monday, phew, it's gone.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

..and filling up the hole that kept getting bigger near to Jim's home.

-The job's gone smoothly, like it should do.

-Like it should do.

-Yeah.

-I wish all jobs did.

-With your planning.

-With MY planning.

-That's it.

-That's it, you see.

They stepped in to help residents when they called the council.

They might be an old woman, they might be elderly,

they might be in a wheelchair.

If you can get something sorted out for them, it's great.

You feel as though you've done something proper.

You need a tick on you.

-It'll be the only one I've got.

-Oh, yeah, yeah.