Letter - Cleaning up the streets and district

Cleaning up the streets and district

I read with great interest the plea for people to clean up their own areas. For years I've cleaned the A66 alongside our farm but I only do our side and I do it round about now before the grass starts growing and hides the rubbish. I'm moving to the view that the A66 through County Durham is the filthiest road in Britain. Nobody seems to care what they chuck out of the car or lorry window. An early sign of Spring up here in the Pennines is the appearance of the first disposable nappy on the roadside. They seem to have a particularly satisfying "heft" for getting good distance and separation from the motor with little danger of a friendly-fire strike on your own vehicle! Another sign of an economy coming out off recession is the siaze of coffee cups and pizza boxes and KFC boxes. We're at the correct distance from Scotch Corner, 19 miles, for finishing a Tall Grande coffee and eliminating the cup from the car. From Penrith KFC, 34 miles, it looks as though an average family can consume a Family Size bucket and then dispose of the carton. Of particular note are Irn-Bru bottles that litter the Eastbound carriageway verges with their suspiciously full contents. Either the purchaser doesn't like it or the recycled stuff is a similar colour to the original!
Isn't it time that the fine level rose or we have a concerted effort to take our rubbish home with us. For goodness' sake it isn't difiicult is it? Here's a few photos of the layby on the Eastbound carriageway opposite our farm. Yiou can see that the first arrivals did try to put their rubbish in the bin but later litterers just piled it up around the bin. I notified the council weeks ago and it's on Fix-my-Street website but nothing happens. We're a tourist area and the A66 is our major highway. I fear that the impression people get as they pass this way is that it's an outreach site for the municipal waste tip.