More to litter-picking than sleeve-rolling

I WRITE in support of your correspondent Mr Tiddy (Letters, March 28), who commented about the misleading and outrageous comments made in the In Touch leaflet that has been distributed by the St Ives branch of the Conservative Party.

The so called “river clean up project” was a blatant attempt at both publicity and denigration of political opponents. The self-styled Conservative Action Team spent a considerable time in Noble’s Field going through the motions so they could be photographed while volunteers recruited by the Friends of Holt Island did most of the real litter gathering.

The Friends organise an annual clean up on both sides of the river and, elsewhere, the youth town council also does some good work.

In his eagerness to indulge in point-scoring for his party Councillor Fuller has overlooked an important fact. The district council employs litter pickers, so complaints received by the town council about litter will usually be referred there. The action team included the leader of the district council, another district councillor and an aspiring one. At least they now have some first-hand experience of what district council litter pickers have to do.

Mr Chris Hayton was so eager to get to Noble’s Field for the photo shoot that he completely missed one of the worst spots for litter. I refer to the river bank underneath the parish churchyard wall. Following a stint of voluntary work on Holt Island in February, I crawled through the undergrowth and collected the litter in a 30-yard stretch of river bank. I removed about 100 cans, 20 bottles and a few polystyrene food dishes. That, Cllr Fuller, required rather more than just rolling up my sleeves.

COLIN SAUNDERSON

Holt Island volunteer

Cedar Road

St Ives