Housing chiefs will hire 250 janitors in bid to clean up Glasgow

 

© Evening Times Originally published: 8/8/2006

Hundreds of community janitors are to be recruited by housing chiefs to help clean up Glasgow.

Up to 250 jobs will be created over the next two years as part of a new programme to help cut unemployment and boost standards at the city's untidiest schemes.

Dozens of unemployed people will be paid for up to 26 weeks to clear up litter and remove graffiti as part of the Environmental Employability Programme.

The scheme, run by Glasgow Housing Association and development companies, is being rolled out across the city following a successful pilot in Castlemilk.

Five of the six trainees who took part in the Castlemilk project have now found full-time jobs, four of them with one firm.

Over the next two years unemployed residents will get intensive training provided by Glasgow City Council to provide maintenance for GHA tenants.

Duties will include cleaning closes, gardening, graffiti removal and assisting GHA tenants with general concerns, including vandalism repairs.

The scheme was created after GHA tenants demanded more was done to clean up neighbourhoods.

Over the past few weeks the Evening Times has exposed the scale of the litter problem that is blighting parts of the city.

New figures show more people complain about rubbish scattered outside their homes than any other neighbourhood problem.

And politicians including Springburn MSP Paul Martin have called for tougher action against litter louts.

Stephen McKay is among a squad of seven workers that have been working to clean up Easterhouse for the past two months.

The 36-year-old was unemployed for a year before he got involved in the project after visiting the Greater Easterhouse Development Company.

He said: "It's great. It's actually one of the best jobs I've had.

"The bosses really help you out and they are putting me through my driving test now.

"I'm now training to be a supervisor.

"The tenants are over the moon we are doing the work. They are coming out giving us cups of tea."