Lament for dirty old town (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Lament for dirty old town

2:56pm Friday 19th March 2010 in

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AS a regular walker, I have to express my disgust at the amount of litter on our streets, roads, gardens and canals, and this problem seems to be going worse.

Whilst I do appreciate that there are too few litter bins, this really is no excuse as people should have respect for their town and take their litter home and dispose of it properly.

The canal area which could be one of beauty and nature is but a rubbish tip, and hedgerows tied up with plastic bags filled with dog excrement line the pathway.

I would ask these people, who do they think is going to move this because of their laziness and inconsideration for other people and children enjoying the area?

The playing fields at Pleasing-ton are also filled with litter and field edges churned up by car wheels depsite polite notices asking people not to park on the grass.

On telephoning a local school regarding litter on their playing fields, I was politely told this was not a concern as they had a team of collectors each lunch-time to tidy up, to which I responded that surely the correct way forward was to stop children dropping it in the first place and have a punishment procedure for those who did!

Although the council has its share of responsibility in resolving this issue, the main culprit is people who have no respect for where they live or nature, and it seems to me that a much stronger penalty system is needed to catch offenders, but one that is enforceable to have some effect together with businesses and shops being made accountable for the area they trade in.

I cannot imagine what visitors to our area think of such a ‘dirty old town’.

Concerned, (Name and address supplied)