VANDALS are driving up the cost of cleaning up our streets.

It now costs Swindon Council more than £600 to install a vandal resistant bin in a public place, more than double the £250 cost of a standard bin.

The council says that almost all its annual budget for bins is swallowed up by replacing and repairing them, leaving no cash for new ones.

Yesterday the Mayor of Swindon, Stan Pajak, said that residents were turning the town into a tip by dumping cars, fridges and house-hold waste on the streets.

He said that the people of Swindon need to take respons-ibility for their own waste.

Coun Chris Shepherd (Lib Dem, Freshbrook and Grange Park) has campaigned for more bins in the area he represents.

He said: "I would like to see more bins installed, it is very important to have them in places were people would use them.

"But it is also a matter of getting people to use the bins that are there. They are not cheap items to make and install but if paying the price for a vandal resistant bin means it doesn't have to be replaced as often then it is saving us all money.

"We need to stop the vandalism before we look at bringing down the cost."

The council says it has an annual budget of £6,000 for new bins but virtually all of it is swallowed up to repair and replace vandalised bins, and at £610 to buy and install a replacement bin there is no money left over to place them in new sites.

Martin Hambidge, the council's parks and amenities manager, said: "The vandal resistant bins are expensive but much more resistant to kids banging and kicking them.

"It is only over the last 12 months that we have decided that buying the more expensive bins will save us money in the long term because there will be less repairs and replacements.

"It's frightening how much a decent litter bin costs though.

"We have a big problem with vandalism across the whole of the town, it is constant and it is costing the tax payer a lot of money."