DURING April the country will see a much needed rubbish clear up of our towns and streets in honour of Queen Elizabeth 11, to me, a dubious honour as this hard working gracious lady has served our country and the commonwealth well over decades.

We, as a nation, should be ashamed of ourselves for the need for this action to have to take place, is it so hard to put rubbish in a bin or take it home and dispose of the waste appropriately?

Dorchester is lucky to have "Stop the Drop"- an organisation that actively encourages anti-litter, the organisers have tried to educate the general public by pushing the council to provide waste bins especially for the disposal of cigarette ends etc, Funnily enough the bins that are not emptied regularly and left overflowing are on council property! Whilst the council acknowledges the existence of "Stop the Drop" it is reluctant to allow anti litter education into our schools or place bins in laybys!

To my knowledge the council has not prosecuted anyone for dropping litter or fly tipping even though the legislation is in place to do so!. As the council continues to plead poverty with cut back in services, will not the revenue for fines be useful, or is it a better use of our money to employ council workmen to clear up the rubbish on a daily basis and on the designated Day in April?

To attack any problem at source, surely, is a better bet rather than doing something for a day when, probably, in a week's time, we will be back to square one. We are now coming up to the holiday season with Easter just over a month away, with tourist bringing much needed revenue to the West Country, so how about a change of behaviour for all of us and pick up your rubbish and for the council to actively take part and take enforcement action for the perpetrators, starting with users of MacDonald's and other fast food outlets.

Come on guys, love your town, take pride in the place you live in. Now is the chance to make Dorchester a place to enjoy without the constant view of garbage in the streets, one days effort will not solve the litter problem what ever we do has to be sustainable.

Heather Robinson

Bridport Road,

Dorchester