In response to Cllr Di Brookes’ letter on recycling, might I suggest she take a closer, more detailed look at NFDC’s annual reports on recycling rather than focus on attacking a fellow councillor in the vain hope of gaining some sort of political advantage.

According to the council’s own report, the recycling rate is 29 per cent. In neighbouring Dorset this figure is over 60 per cent.

Maybe the Conservatives should look to Dorset for inspiration in how a partnership between a county council and several district councils makes recycling work better for everybody.

I understand that the national Conservatives have a natural aversion to anything that helps the environment – they did try to sell off the New Forest – but they must recognise that an efficient and effective recycling scheme is far better for the annual budget than a wasteful and ineffective system that fails to solve the real problem of making a sustainable future for future generations.

How is 29 per cent acceptable when only 100 per cent will do?

Both the Conservatives and Labour are still failing to grasp the monumental threat that climate change poses to our society and to our future.

There is only the Liberal Democrats to provide a genuine alternative that identifies the concerns and fears of an uncertain world and seeks to solve them.

I hope that Cllr Brookes recognises that, in this case, she has misunderstood the council’s own figures on recycling.

The New Forest deserves better than this dismal lack of choice between two sides of the same coin.

JACK DAVIES, Pennington.