Recently I took note as the early-morning council cleaning crew worked their way along Ashley Road, Parkstone.

What I saw I found astounding.

Using hand-held blowers, crews were blowing the litter off the pavement into gutters. The litter then ended up where no cleaning van can possibly get to – between gutters and parked cars, in landscape shrubs, and into shop doorways – and there left, as ever, for the rest of the day.

It truly beggars belief, the procedures contrary to every word in environmental Codes of Practice ever written: litter to be cleared, not redistributed.

The truth is Poole council will not invest in sufficient resources to do this work. Sixteen operators are expected to clear all the litter from the commercial areas in the borough each day.

This is utterly impossible. Hence the department trying every short-cut possible.

And behind this matter of cleaning is the litter pollution itself within Poole and, as ever, zero litter deterrent work. Fixed Penalty returns to Dept of Environment over two years – zero.

In all, an absolute disgrace and insult to everyone paying for these services. Yet a senior councillor replies to me “What’s your problem?”. To the councillor my having severely criticised uncleared litter pollution makes me the problem, the litter itself not a problem.

DEFRA Fixed Penalty litter returns 2008-09 – for Poole no entry – blank.

DEFRA Fixed Penalty litter returns 2007-08 – for Poole no entry – blank.

Jeff Williams, Jubilee Rd, Poole