I AM IN despair as I have tried so many things over such a long time to get Chelmsford City Council and Essex County Council to take the litter issue in and around Chelmsford and where I live and generally on the A12, a little more seriously.
I always get a reply but it usually refers me to another department or another person and I have to start writing all over again with another letter. AAAARRGHHH!
Sorry about this expression but when you have been doing this for the last ten plus years you have not got any hair left to pull out and you start doing that in your letters.
I remember that four or five years ago, or even longer, the Essex Chronicle had a headline article about the state of our lovely surroundings being affected by litter; I was thrilled to see someone else cared and wanted to highlight it.
The time has come for another front-page article with photographs of the state of our verges. We are a city now and some people are proud of that and the tourist board is actively trying to attract people to Chelmsford or Essex generally.
But how can we be proud when our environment looks like a third-world country? I have been to some that look better than ours.
When I have been in touch with Chelmsford Borough Council, as it was then, I was told the verges get cleaned once in the spring and once in the autumn.
Money is scarce. Wow, when you have hundreds of thousands of people travelling around on the A130, A414 and around Chelmsford and on the A12 you understand why it is in such a state.
There never is any money for litter and I get told when I advise the council of overflowing bins in the city centre "people should take their rubbish home". I have never seen a campaign asking people to "take rubbish home".
I am a regular litter-picker in my area and take part once a year on the official litter-pick day in Danbury, but it is so disheartening when you feel you are fighting a battle on your own and that the council is not interested in giving litter more priority.
No I don't suffer from OCD, but I do like my environment to be tidy.
But thanks to more and more house-building around Chelmsford and Danbury (all traffic from Maldon and South Woodham Ferrers comes through Danbury) litter has increased enormously, but has the clearing of the verges increased? No.
In all the 40-plus years that I have lived in our road I have only ever seen a road sweeper twice.
I nearly fell of my perch the second time, because it was a novelty and hilarious at the same time as there was a gale blowing – obviously a good day for sweeping the roads.
Yes we do get the lorries going along the edge of the curb to clean those couple of times a year, but that is not litter-picking or sweeping pavements.
I have been given an award for litter-picking by Chelmsford City Council.
It was fun and nice to get the recognition, but now I think why not use the money spent on events like that to clear the litter in the verges, instead of encouraging volunteers to do it.
I would feel more appreciated if Chelmsford City Council or Essex County Council (not always sure whose responsibility it is as I get sent from pillar to post as it's never anyone's responsibility) sent regular teams out to clear litter to support the volunteers.
That would give it more of a team feeling and joint responsibility which leaves a better taste in my mouth than the tea and cakes.
Last but not least, every now and then I see in your court listings about the paltry fines handed to people for dropping cigarette ends.
But what happens to all the others who drop litter?
If I were to park my car near Staples where there is a McDonald's in Victoria Road, Chelmsford, I could fine scores of people as they throw their rubbish out of the car and drive off. What happens to those? Could we not have more active people bearing down on those?
The culprits, instead of being asked to pay a fine, could do a day's work of clearing verges; perhaps they will stop and think next time.
What do the police do when they see litter being dropped?
Well, I will stop now. Forgive me for this unconventional letter, but I am so tired of writing letters to get anything done about litter.
Elly Bunn
Danbury