A BROMLEY councillor says the Mayor of London's attempt to name and shame the borough for failing to join a clean up programme is "unbelievable".

Speaking ahead of the launch of London-wide Clean Up, Ken Livingstone criticised the borough for being one of five councils not joining the Capital Standards programme.

Capital Standards has helped to train 600 council officers to carry out street enforcement against problems such as litter, graffiti, flytipping, flyposting, dropped gum, litter and abandoned cars.

Mr Livingstone said in trying to "go it alone", the borough, along with Enfield, Kensington and Chelsea, Redbridge and Barnet, was "failing the rest of London".

He added: "Every local authority should be following the best practice of our best local councils to clean up their areas and make full use of the powers available to them."

But portfolio holder for the environment Councillor George Taylor called the programme a "waste of money".

He said: "We did refuse to contribute £15,000 to the Capital Standards programme because we were doing the things they were producing anyway.

"In fact, an audit commission report ranked Bromley the fourth cleanest in all the London boroughs."

This week, Bromley Council kicked off it's own £50,000 spring clean initiative with special crews set to remove graffiti and rubbish.

The month-long campaign is in addition to routine sweeping and cleaning in the borough and hopes to tackle issues which impact on residents' everyday quality of life.

Council leader Councillor Stephen Carr said: "This is not just cleaner and safer streets, its also for tackling specific problems.

"We all have a part to play and this latest action shows we're doing our bit too. Maybe you can play your part too, why not call us to report the graffiti near you for instance."

The scheme will also see offenders removing graffiti and maintaining trees as part of Community Payback teams.

Residents can suggest areas which need special cleaning by calling 020 8313 4557 or visiting bromley.gov.uk/neatstreet Street problems such as graffiti and flytipping can also be reported.