Gill Cockings, of Bishops Mead, South Brent, writes:

 Could an appeal be made for the award of ‘The Scruffiest Village’?

South Brent would take some beating.

Visitors to this lovely, quaint and charming village must be very sad to see the state that the place has become.

Traditional cottages have been neglected, no paint for years, the weeds in the roads and gutters are simply amazing.

Why, oh why do residents not clear up around their doorsteps?

There are many doorways in the main streets with weeds growing around the front door!

How do these people walk over these every day without pulling them up and do they not have a broom or dustpan and brush?

Maybe they don’t even own these items.

The shop proprietors are some of the worst offenders, there is simply no excuse to let the outside of the place your customers visit on a regular basis look like it is derelict.

Rubbish is another topic that is surely a concern.

Food and sweet wrappers. drink cans, plastic drink bottles etc, all can be found along the streets here, especially outside the shops.

There is no shortage of waste bins, in fact, there is a large one right next to the phone box in the main square, but on most days litter can be found on and under the seat next to it and the weeds growing around the phone box are not a pretty sight. 

There is a parish council here and it tries to do its best in these days of cutbacks, but one would think that the people who are lucky enough to live in such a beautiful part of England would have more pride in their surroundings and take a bit of responsibility for ‘their patch’.

Of course, there are people who do take pride in the village, thank you to them, it is a lovely place to live.

South Brent needs its cleaner back, even if it has to be paid for in the council precept.

South Brent doesn’t need to be the first winner of such an award.