River of rubbish

6:59am Friday 1st August 2008

Keeping the centre of Oxford clean and tidy is surely not rocket science.

But anyone who has walked through the city, particularly along Cornmarket, cannot fail to have noticed the worsening of litter problems.

The large number of fast-food outlets and an influx of visitors has combined to produce a real mess this summer.

The city council, to its credit, has put up its hands and accepted that however often the bins were being emptied, they were not being emptied often enough.

It has promised to do more, but the onus is not solely on the local authority.

The initial problem is, obviously enough, caused by the person who drops the litter and a much tougher regime of enforcement to tackle litterbugs should be put in place.

In addition, Cornmarket has seven outlets serving fast food and, as we understand it, only one of them, McDonald's, provides its own litter bins.

We are inclined to back a suggestion from one of our correspondents this week who recommends that all those outlets in the city serving fast food should provide their own bins and also take responsibility for clearing up the area around their establishments.

If someone drops litter outside your home, most of us take enough pride in our surroundings to go out and pick it up, without waiting for our local authority to come along and do the job for us.

Why should businesses not be prepared to do the same?