Victoria local council has blamed the public cleansing cooperative in Gozo, KIP, for the poor cleaning services provided during the feast of St George Martyr on 15 July, particularly in Independence Square, Savina Square and Republic Street.

It said everything had been prepared and at 2.30pm the mayor contacted the KIP representative to make sure that everything was ready. This was confirmed. But in fact everything went wrong and the contractor was not in a position to explain why. The council was put in a bad light with residents, it said, going on to apologise for the inconvenience that had been caused although everything had been planned against it.

The council said it would not tolerate such irresponsibility and would be taking all necessary steps against a repetition and for reparation. The matter would be discussed with the contractor at the council meeting to be held on 24 July.