I WOULD like to respond to the letter from Kirstie Macfarlane (Tourists don’t want to see rubbish dump, Letters, March 6).

There is no doubt that because there are disgusting people about, we have a problem. It is nonsense, and utterly misleading, for the council to plead lack of resources as a defence to a claim that the litter problem is not being tackled.

Under Section 89 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, a council has an absolute duty to pick up litter, and there is basically no excuse for not doing so. Under Section 91 an individual aggrieved by the presence of litter can take action against the council in the magistrates’ court.

That is precisely what I did some years ago when I lived in Hereford and became fed up with wading through litter. I issued some 30 abatement notices against the council under the Act. They ignored them, I took the council to court, won the case, and things temporarily improved.

The procedure is all set out in the excellent website www.litteraction.org.uk. Everything is explained and there is a step-by-step procedure to follow etc.

I am willing, as a retired lawyer, to assist anyone who cares to take the council to task (my email is kipcarwaistell@hotmail.com), and am happy to try and form a group (contact me if you are interested) to keep an eye on litter everywhere in the county, with the object of submerging the council with litter abatement notices.

The council must be forced to act. Schools and parents need to educate the young that dropping litter is a filthy habit, and the police/council need to adopt a zero-tolerance policy to offenders.

After all, with a maximum fine of £2,500, one should be able to discourage this obnoxious minority.

I also took the council and their contractors to court for £400 damage sustained by my car as a result of potholes and recovered my outlay (but only because of a lucky technicality!). It is a disgrace that the council allows repairs to be so badly done, rather than take the contractors to task for shoddy work.

I see the same potholes open up time and time again, because the repairs are not done properly. This new group could try to do something in this respect too.

KIP WAISTELL Vowchurch