Penalise culprits of dirty old town
I was brought up to believe that litter outside my home denoted the occupant as "dirty". It did not matter who the culprit was but it was detramental to the premises.
I have always picked up litter dropped by the passing public and by dustbin men - not because I have a fetish but because I am proud of my home. You don't have to be rich to be clean.
But Preston must be full of dirty people if the state of the streets is anything to go by. I have heard it said: "People are getting paid to pick this up. I'm certainly not going to do it."
I suggest that instead of putting up council tax, the local authority should fine all the people in the streets where there is litter. The fines should include work premises, pubs, etc where employees drop cigarette ends outside their doors and leave them until the street cleaner makes his rounds.
Councils might also penalise the shops whose car parks and hedges are filled with plastic and rubbish for months on end.
Do the job properly and they might be able to reduce council tax.
Preston is filthy and it is about time something was done. It is fast becoming the third city for all the wrong reasons.
Confused, Higher Walton (name and address supplied)

I'd rather pay a fine than receive lecture
"Take a brake from speeding" a recent article in the LEP was headlined.
I am full of admiration for the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety quango. It has been in existence for some years and continues to grow, while the most recent figures show that the numbers of road deaths increased nationally as more cameras were introduced.
LPRS staff do, of course, succeed in their main objective of relieving motorists of an awful lot of their already-taxed money.
Another area where they excel is that of job-creation, manifesting itself in the speed awareness course run by two men who have been employed there since 2001.
Rather than be lectured to and be bombarded by statistics after having gone a mile or two over the speed limit - which these days seems to be more of a crime than burglary - the prospect of paying the £60 fine, if I am ever careless enough to commit this offence, seems the lesser of two evils.
Peter Brown, Penwortham, via email

Roadworks should be better co-ordinated
The A583 Preston-to-Blackpool road near Clifton and Lea was subject to road and bridge works for six months. Speed cameras were introduced, and this included white lines on the road.
Why have the white lines been removed, but a groove for every white line left behind?
At the time it was known as the "golden mile" of speed cameras. Revenue was generated, so why is the road now left rutted and scarred? Was it too much to ask that the road be left in its original, unrutted state?
Of late there have been road restrictions connected to work on the canal in the same area. Why was this not done when the bridge repairs were done?
There has also been work carried out to lower the kerb on the east-bound carriageway by some houses. Again, why was this not done when the roadworks were current for six months last year?
Some scaffolding has been erected on the east-bound carriageway recently. It looks like it is there to protect overhead pylon work. Why was this not co-ordinated with the bridge work?
Why do we have signs saying that new traffic measures are in place, displayed for years?
Do the people who decide these things have a clue?
Simon Scott, via email

It Asda be a waste of police time
I received a letter today from Lawson Street police station telling me I had parked my car at Asda one evening last week.
I thought "where is the crime in that?"
It seems I had been remiss in not removing the front from my CD player while I was away from the vehicle.
The police should concentrate on catching criminals and leave law-abiding citizens alone.
Alan Ellithorn, Catforth, via email

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