Town pride (From Barry And District News)

Town pride

I REFER to the letter from J Evans ("Dirty Town" - Barry and District News, July 14).

While I very much welcome and encourage public comment about street cleaning and our environment, and am happy to accept criticism of my management of services, I was disappointed to note that this resident chose to criticise our street cleansing staff, who undertake a thankless task in sometimes difficult circumstances.

I appreciate that we have a cleansing role to undertake for which we are paid, but I do feel that the resident should, perhaps, acknowledge the cause of the litter problem.

Litter is an anti-social matter that we are working to eliminate, and £75 on-the-spot fines will be issued to offenders.

We urge people to take their litter home with them and dispose of it properly.

During 2004/05, our Enforcement Team issued 54 fixed penalty notices and 1,395 written warnings for litter and dog fouling offences. This represents a 400 percent increase in our enforcement activities when compared with 2003/04.

I am sure readers will appreciate that everyone living and working in the Vale has a responsibility to take pride and ownership in their surroundings and work with the council to help make the area a cleaner, safer place to live.

For our part we will continually seek to improve our services, and my wish is that those who generate the litter will some day accept their responsibilities.

Miles Punter

Head of Visible Services

Vale of Glamorgan Council