WILTSHIRE Council has hit back at claims it is to blame for the litter lying in bushes and alongside the A36 near Salisbury.

Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport Philip Whitehead says he is “disgusted” both by the rubbish and the the fact that it costs a fortune to clear up.

In a response to a letter written by a Journal reader, he says the root cause of the litter must be attacked rather than blaming council staff for not picking the litter up.

In her letter, Anne Munns from Salisbury calls the litter a blight on the county, saying: “My husband and I recently travelled to and from Bath on the A36. It was noticeable that there had been attempts made to put rubbish in bins provided in many lay-bys. However all for nothing - since they were full to over-flowing. The rubbish was then blown by the wind or torn apart by animals.

“So who does Mr Whitehead and Mrs Scott blame for this? Responsible drivers or Wiltshire Council?”

Replying, cllr Whitehead said an additional clean up of rural roads had just been carried out in the county at a cost of £120,000 and the council could not afford to constantly spend that money.

He writes: “The A36 is managed by the Highways Authority who last year ceased grass cutting on it and ceased litter picking on it. Our teams had to start picking litter up on there as a result within our reducing budget.”

He adds: “My teams pick up litter across Wiltshire day after day. They do not drop the litter and we need to start to get angry at the cause of the litter not the fact that as more is dropped we will inevitably struggle to pick it up unless we spend more and more money which we do not have.

“Litter is predominantly from two sources. The takeaway food type and the commercial type. The increase in takeaways, coffee in cardboard cups at petrol stations, sandwich sales in supermarkets, allows people to buy wrapped food and drinks and then deposit them out of the car window when the contents are consumed.

“With commercial tipping, e.g. the tyres, rogue traders offer to clear waste cheaply because they know that they will fly tip to save the commercial waste costs - this is not accidental tipping of material blowing off lorries.

“Both activities can be stopped by the people of Wiltshire saving themselves money in the long term.

“Across the country there is a reported increase of 20 per cent in the dropping of litter. This is entirely unnecessary and means that as a country we spend huge amounts of money picking up litter. This money could be better spent on supporting the elderly or on affordable housing.”

The A36 and A303 were not included in the recent sweep of rural roads but are due to be cleared over the next few weeks ahead of grass cutting.