Your recent report of litter-picking volunteers in Dorchester is heartening, as is the intended police action against graffiti.

They should be lauded for their public service.

It is crucial that our environment is protected one way or another from litter and graffiti, as well as from the ever increasing nuisance of A boards and flyposting.

All of these things are illegal (except for a comparatively few signs that are on the owners’ properties).

They degrade the quality of our environment and signal that nobody cares, and when this happens, people don’t care about each other either, to the ultimate damage of society.

It sometimes seems that few of us even see the damage being done, such is the creeping stealth of change, and so a scruffy, ill-kempt appearance of our streets becomes the norm, and a sense of pride in the community evaporates.

Ideally, of course, everyone should be responsible for clearing their own mess, but with human nature being what it is, and our traders appearing to be hell bent on cluttering our streets with as many signs as they can get away with, what is the choice when our councils seem not to care: do nothing or take direct action?

This is our environment and our society’s values that are being eroded.

If the Big Society is to mean anything, then grass roots action should be encouraged – a bit like as in a non violent Arab Spring – to remove litter, clean graffiti away and clear illegal signs and adverts.

Will any of our councils rise to the task of giving leadership in this matter, or is it really up to tidy vigilantes to take direct action in our own Dorchester Spring?

G Hughes, Maumbury Road, Dorchester