Dear Editor,

Further to Graham Chowns’ letter published on December 20th, 2017, one only needs to glance around Ross to see that it is in a rather dismal state, with pavements slippery with weeks of congealed leaves, road gutters covered in leaves, litter and branches blocking drains leading to stretches of standing water, not forgetting weeds growing along pavements, gutters and around post boxes.

The state of the roads too, leave much to be desired with pot holes, all criss-crossed with evidence of former work by the many utility companies who rarely leave a good finish to the ’mining’ of the roads.

Balfour Beatty, who recently obtained a windfall from the selling off, of a part interest in the M25, appear to take no interest in the place. I rarely see a road sweeper clearing the roads, perhaps once or twice in the middle of summer on a pleasant day, never when needed in late autumn or winter.

Road, pavement and litter tidying should be done by local workers, never by national construction companies.

Ben Haworth,

Ross-on-Wye