Southwark Council have a £70m budget shortfall over the next three years, largely driven by the raising cost of adult social care, children’s social care and homelessness. I am sure they’d like to prioritise street cleaning more, but this isn’t realistic. If you’re interested in a breakdown of how they spend their money, the headlines are here:
https://www.southwark.gov.uk/council-tax/how-we-manage-council-tax/our-budget-and-how-we-spend-council-tax/our-income-and
I’m sure there are areas where the council could make better decisions or be more efficient, but they’re working in a very challenging financial context.