After a recent visit back home to see family and friends, I was shocked to see black bin bags, some open and spilling over with yesterday's dinner, outside every household in my mother's street.

I was in for another shock when I walked along Marine Parade last Wednesday.

Half-open bin bags with their contents scattered over the ground and down basement stairwells resembled some kind of 18th Century slum.

I literally had to tiptoe my way through all sorts of debris. I just can't believe that this sort of filth can be tolerated.

I live in the small town of Lancaster and can honestly say that I have never witnessed anything there like the filth that I saw in Brighton and Hove.

How can Brighton even consider applying for city status, when quite evidently it doesn't have a coherent waste disposal strategy?

For goodness sake Brighton and Hove Council, sort this mess out now.

-Michelle Batchelor, Lancaster