I JUST want to draw your readers’ attention to a pressing need to deal with the litter that is clogging our and verges.

Weymouth and Portland will be hosting the sailing classes of the Olympic Games in July and in all probability visitors will be also staying in Poole, Bournemouth, East Dorset and Purbeck.

There will be hundreds of journalists visiting the area to cover the sailing classes and I believe they will notice if our pavements and verges are despoiled by fast food packaging, cigarette packets and everything else.

They will have a lasting impression of this scene if we don’t deal with it now.

On a recent visit to a friend’s wedding in Galway, I was confronted by a notice in a park area that said if you don’t pick up your litter, you get slapped with a 1,900 euro fine.

It really bothered me when a colleague of mine from Bournemouth told about an incident of a car he was driving behind when the owner chucked an empty plastic drinks bottle out.

Don’t forget, the press will be out in force when the Olympic Torch comes through Poole and Bournemouth and if the streets aren’t tidier, they will notice.

Contrary to what some might say, it is not just the council’s job to pick up rubbish but is also the public’s responsibility to bin it or recycle it.

In view of what has been said and with the right to hold such a prestigious sporting event is the responsibility that goes with it. I would say to the anti-social minority who ruin it for everyone, please think of your community first rather than yourselves.

MATTHEW BELL Sterte Road, Poole