WITH reference to Mr Adams’ letter regarding litter and the use of external enforcement companies I would like to provide the facts.

Litter, including dog fouling, is a real issue for residents, and to try and address the problem I asked officers to look into the costs and benefits of using an external enforcement company.

Before spending tax payers’ money on pursuing it further I wanted to get an idea from local residents if that would be an acceptable way forward and we have heard that it is not.

Mr Adams could not be further from the truth when he says the Borough of Poole can’t resist picking our pockets again as this action would have been to earnestly try and combat people who blatantly throw litter on our public spaces and help keep our town beautiful.

Only those people would have been fined.

We would not have worked with a company whose staff could not tell the difference between an accidental drop and a total disregard for the littering byelaws.

The borough is not able to allocate the amount of staff time to effectively enforce litter byelaws and we would urge all residents to help in keeping our streets and open spaces clean from litter and help educate people littering is not acceptable.

CLLR XENA DION, cabinet member for environment and local economy, Borough of Poole