MADAM, I was surprised and angry to read the letter from CS Thompson in last week's Ross Gazette. As Chairman of the Association of Ross Traders, a newly formed traders group doing all it can to promote Ross, improve community spirit and make Ross a better place to live and shop, I feel I must speak up on behalf of the traders of the town.
As a group, we, Ross in Bloom, the Police and several others have complained to the owners of the car park about the litter and general state of the car park but to no avail. We are now in communication with the Community Protection Team at Herefordshire Council who have the power to force, through the courts if necessary, a landlord to tidy and keep tidy a designated area.
However to say that traders have 'no pride in the town' is very unfair criticism.
Since we started the group I have found few people who are as passionate and full of pride about Ross on Wye than the shop keepers. Unfortunately the very poor maintenance of the car park cannot be put down to them. I believe this needs some sort of specialist waste disposal team as rats, needles and rotten waste should not be handled without specialist equipment.
During these tough times most shops are running on a knife edge with the minimum of staff, so to put the responsibility on them of litter picking and the cleaning of car parks is a very tall order!!
Richard Mayo, Chairman Ross Traders Association