HUNDREDS of residents are being asked to keep their own roads clean after council bosses pulled the plug on street sweepers.

Letters have been sent to houses in 32 private roads in the area saying Sevenoaks District Council will no longer pay the cost of visits from street cleaning teams. Instead they must meet the cost themselves.

Angry residents say it is unfair to ask them to fund an extra charge when they pay the same council tax rate as those on public roads.

But the council argues a £162,000 reduction in its street-cleaning budget had led to the decision.

Homeowners in Oakhill Road have reacted angrily.

Declan Cunningham, a director of the company that owns the street, said: "We understand the need to conserve resources but feel this is unfair as the residents in Oakhill Road pay the same council tax as other residents, but are being deprived of an essential service.

"We are therefore considering our options, which will include liaising with other private roads in the area."

Fellow resident Peter Martin said: "It does seem unfair as we pay our rates. It seems private roads are a soft target."

Meanwhile, Linden Chase resident Anthony Morse said: "Why stop there? They might as well get us all to take our household rubbish to the Dunbrik disposal site.

"We could do that on the way to the bottle bank each week, and with all the composting we do for them, there would be nothing else for Sevenoaks District Council's waste disposal department to worry about."

But although seven streets in Badgers Mount are included in the list of streets, residents argue they have never seen a street sweeper venture into the ward.

Gordon Plumb, treasurer of Badgers Mount Residents Association and resident of the private Highland Road, said: "I've lived here for decades and never once seen such a thing.

"I don't understand how they're going to stop a service they never provided in the first place.

"But the council seems to like wasting money by putting letters out."

And residents in listed Riverhead street Baden Powell Road say the gravel surface of the road has prevented council sweepers from entering for years.

Other private streets in the district, including Wildernesse Avenue, are cleaned on request, for which they are charged between £48 and £60 per hour.

Councillor Avril Hunter, cabinet member for the environment, said: "For a number of years, we had resources to clean some private roads for free.

"But with unprecedented reductions in our grant, we've had to look carefully where we spend taxpayers' money to ensure we get the best value for the whole community.

"This will allow us to concentrate more resources on publicly-owned roads in town and village centres and residential areas that we have duty to clean."

See letters page 22