Dear Editor

In response to former councillor Thierry Chessum’s letter last week, I also attended part of the county councillors’ meeting [the Transport, Traffic and You’ public workshop at The Assembly Rooms, organised by county cllrs Maggy Daniell, Alvin Horsfall and Peter John], and thought that the workshop was a good way of identifying people’s traffic and transport problems in Frome, which the county councillors will take forward and try and resolve by securing funding and support from county. Surely, life is too short to be so negative all the time, and we need people to contribute ideas and to build support for positive changes instead from all our councils.

In response to the letter on flytipping and recycling last week, I agree with the author, in that Mendip District Council’s own data shows that amount of flytipped rubbish in the district doubled in April, May and June. This was straight after new charges and shorter opening hours at our household waste recycling centres were brought in by Somerset Waste Partnership, after Somerset County Council’s severe cuts to SWP’s budget.  I and other councillors are asking both our Conservative controlled district and county councils to recognise the policy was a damaging mistake, as it has been counterproductive in putting people off recycling, something even Eric Pickles agrees with us on. We are therefore asking for the policy to be reviewed again, and for opening hours at recycling centres to be extended and chagres reduced. We are also keeping up the pressure for more action to deter flytipping and encourage recycling and good waste disposal behaviour for both household and trade waste. For more on this campaign, please see http://adamboyden.mycouncillor.org.uk/.

Adam Boyden
Liberal Democrat, Mendip District Councillor, Frome College ward

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