AT 9AM on a beautiful summers morning I wandered into Shirley precinct to be confronted with every litter bin full to overflowing and discarded litter all around the seating area where people hadn`t bothered.

The bins need emptying twice daily if there is going to be any serious attempt to keep areas clean.

Excess litter is a problem here to stay, so we need to find a better way to manage disposal.

Certainly from what I saw, recyclables were mixed up with general rubbish, but to ask people to separate the two, maybe is pushing the luck, but is always worth a try.

Brits aren't generally known unfortunately for their cleanliness, as we have witnessed in the media.

Ignorance, laziness and careless basically sums up those who thoughtlessly discard their rubbish, but as we head towards putting our city forward for the culture accolade, it would be good to know an attempt was made to, at the very least, put in provisions to tidy up the place.

Richard A Jacob

Shirley