Following a succession of Bank Holidays, I am painfully reminded of the inadequacies of our refuse collection service.

With a town full of vitally important tourists we find ourselves wading through rotting food, used tampons and nappies, litter and various other horrors.

No other tourist city in Europe looks as filthy as Brighton and Hove and I find myself asking the following questions: Why doesn't Brighton and Hove City Council pay overtime to refuse collectors to maintain a regular service during Bank Holidays? The transient population has enough trouble sticking to a regular collection day.

What happened to the communal black bin scheme? It should surely have been wheeled out across problem areas such as Kemp Town.

What is being done to control the urban fox problem? I regularly see foxes in the streets of Kemp Town. Why is there no regular street washing scheme in place? A gentle tickle of the gutters by half-hearted roadsweeps barely helps. Why is the council so hopeless at tackling a problem which other cities have long since overcome?

This city has no exceptional circumstances. Seville has incredibly narrow streets yet trash is collected quietly each night and the streets are washed ready for each new day.

Councillors charged with the responsibility of keeping our city clean and safe to live in should be ashamed of themselves.

-Alan Towler, Brighton