‘Muckheap’ of a city after litter bins removed

YOU published an interesting column from Andrew Vine on the subject of litter, with most of which I heartily agree (Yorkshire Post, October 1).

However, when he sings the praises of our worthy council in York, I must take issue with him. Here in York, lots of lip service is paid to the general litter problem and its removal, but when they remove a goodly share of our litter bins from the streets of York how can they possibly claim this to be improving the litter situation?

Most observant people in York will have seen on many occasions, litter bins full to overflow at the start of a weekend morning with a full day of visitors and shoppers about to arrive.

I myself have gone in to the Central Library passing a litter bin overflowing over the entrance steps with no action being taken to remedy it, indeed all the library staff had passed it that morning and done absolutely nothing. No, sir, York is far from tidy and indeed often is what we used to call “a muckheap”.

As a nation, we are rapidly becoming one of the filthiest in Europe with a growing mass of people with no interest in being tidy, either at home or outdoors. When your local council cuts back on amenity sites and severely restricts them when open, combines that with reductions in bin collections and sweeps local streets once a flood, then we have no hopes of ever having a tidy city or country ever again.