They admit to being viewed as "the lowest of the low" by the public, but Bath's street cleaners insist they are doing their utmost to keep the city clean.

Recently, the army of workers has come under fire from Bathonians complaining the city centre is far too scruffy for a World Heritage Site.

Residents' groups attacked council chiefs over figures produced at a public meeting which suggested the authority spends the least in the country on cleaning up its streets – just £17 per household.

Bath and North East Somerset Council has since argued the ENCAMS statistics are three years out-of-date and launched a charm offensive to pledge its commitment to cleanliness.

But the torrent of complaints has hit the front line of workers hard.

Roly Russell, who heads the city centre's neighbourhood team, told the Western Daily Press: "My boys are feeling that they are viewed extremely negatively and their morale is right down.

"Our problem is that the footfall through the city centre is so huge, within an hour people cannot see that you have cleaned a certain street.

"I start at 6am and identify the areas in most need and by 6.30am, the boys are out on the streets.

"But by the time the city is cleared up, delivery vehicles have come through making a mess and people have been chucking their coffee cups away on the way to the office. It is a constant battle."

Mr Russell said his team worked extremely hard and were often criticised in public, despite the fact they work 48 hour weeks, covering the city from 6.30am-8pm.

His views are shared by Bill Walters, who heads a 17-strong cleansing team that copes with Bath's many complex neighbourhoods outside the city centre.

He said staff were currently getting to grips with leaf-clearing to make the city's streets less slippery and hazardous.

"This is a massive operation. Leaf collections began last month and the team has collected more than 400 tons.

"The team has to stop cleansing for a few months because all our resources go into this but we try not to let other things suffer.

"If we didn't do it, you wouldn't be able to walk or drive anywhere as the streets tend to be covered again in a few hours."

His team works tirelessly to tackle fly-tipping, scrub graffitti off walls, retrieve dirty drug needles and remove burnt-out cars from desolate areas and works closely with the council, housing association and enforcement officers.

He said: "I know people do view us as the lowest of the low but somebody has to do this job and all my team are really passionate about it.

"Some of us have been doing this for 20 years and that is because we love it.

He said new PACT meetings had been vital in improving relationships with residents and all complaints about mess were swiftly dealt with.

"Yes it would be wonderful to have 10 mechanical sweepers and 50 manual staff but resources are limited and we have to do the best with what we've got."

Chewing gum and cigarette ends are two of the biggest bugbears of the city's anti-litter squads.

And the council has now stepped up its offensive against the twin menaces, launching new machines to hoover up cigarette ends at a rate of 10,000 each per day.

This week the council's new gum-busting 'weapon' picked up its 50,000th piece of gum.