THERE have been a number of recent letters about the state of rubbish on our roads, particularly the A36. I drive over much of Wiltshire as a councillor heading to meetings and I have not found a stretch of road as bad as the A36 to the East of Salisbury.

Your contributors understandably ask why the rubbish is not being cleared up. The Highways Agency (the national body) is responsible for our major roads including the A36. Until last year it also accepted responsibility for cleaning them of rubbish.

Last year it decided to stop doing this, a decision which I find utterly bemusing. Instead they have told the council that we have to do it but have not provided any resource to us to help in the process. The Highways Agency is sadly not a publicly accountable body and as such has made its decision without public input.

The council is trying to clear up the county's roads but we do not have the resource to add the Highways Agency roads as well. The cabinet member is trying to come up with a solution but with budgets as tight as they are this will not be easy.

Personally I don't feel like waiting to resolve financial issues (which will not ease for at least another three years with the need to balance the national budget). I think we, the public, should get together and do what we can to pick up litter. This year the city and its outlying villages will get extra visitors to the Magna Carta celebrations and I think we need to do what we can to clear up the litter on our streets and roads. I would urge anyone in Salisbury who is interested in helping to get in touch with me please (richard.clewer@wiltshire.gov.uk or mobile 07980 756424) so we can organise a tidying up of Salisbury and the surrounding areas. I can talk to the council about assisting if we try to clear up any roads (I have been promised some assistance there) but I think we should probably start with the city and villages.

I would also urge those residents of Wiltshire who think that the streets and roads are just their own personal litter bin to stop throwing litter on the streets and bin it or take it home instead. Litter is a manmade problem and one we should not have to deal with at all if people were only more considerate.

Richard Clewer

Wiltshire Councillor St Paul's Ward Salisbury

Portfolio Holder for Housing