LETTER: Councillors should tackle real problems

The news that from this October dogs will be banned from being walked in certain parks and playing fields (as part of new laws being brought in by Chesterfield Borough Council) reinforces the opinion of some that local councillors need to get back into the real world, and perhaps tackle real problems.

We use Inkersall Green Park to exercise our dogs every day, and every day without fail my wife fills two carrier bags with discarded bottles, cans and other rubbish that is left by teenagers who are, quite frankly, old enough to know better.

The worst area for this is the children’s playground where the litter often consists of beer bottles, sometimes broken, and evidence of activities that you wouldn’t expect in a toddler’s play area.

The football season guarantees that the amount of litter left on the park increases significantly, which, when the council actually mows the grass (getting less frequent every year) means shards of torn drinks cans strewn all over the pitch.

If the council wishes to make a difference to public open spaces it would be better employed in increasing frequency of the litter bins being emptied (if they haven’t been vandalised already) so residents like my wife have somewhere to deposit the rubbish they collect, well, until October that is, because after then she won’t be able to walk in the worst affected areas.

Pat Goodwin

Inkersall