HAVING just read Erin Lyons’ article in yesterday’s Oxford Mail regarding the ongoing scourge of fly-tipping, I was absolutely amazed with the response given by Oxfordshire county council spokeswoman Catarina Walsh on the epidemic we are now witnessing.

Ms Walsh needs to understand, that regardless of her own or the county council’s opinion on what is right or wrong, this problem will not be resolved by making it expensive or hard to dispose of unwanted items or rubbish.

If people are simply taking rubbish back home after being told what the fee is for disposal then that should make alarm bells ring very loudly in County Hall.

Recycling centres set up in the 1970/80s were in a response to, you guessed it, fly-tipping on the same scale as we are witnessing today.

I remember that our councils previously tried placing skips in areas where residents could put unwanted items and bulky rubbish but this idea became a magnet for the budding arsonists so were quickly removed.

It’s time for our councils to take a hard look and understand that their ill-thought out idea of charging for rubbish disposal in recycling centres has failed miserably.

We already pay for waste disposal through our council tax. How much extra would it be to add the cost of using recycling centres to the council tax per annum?

RICHARD ANDERSON

Wood Farm Road, Headington