My sincere congratulations to American writer Bill Bryson on being nominated as President of the CPRE. I was a fan of his travel and other books long before he moved to South Norfolk. Since he has lived here I have had a number of opportunities to talk to him about his love of the English countryside and there is no doubt it is genuine. Moreover, he has chosen to live in this country rather than the USA because he enjoys it so much. What saddens him, however, is that too many native Brit's fail to appreciate the beauty around them and are all to ready to abuse it.
Accordingly, the CPRE President Elect has declared that his main focus will be fly tipping in the countryside. It may be that part of his motivation for this has been the filth and rubbish he has seen tipped on our gateways and roadside banks - rubbish that at busy times we sometimes struggle to clear. That the local district council also often fails to clear that element of the mess that it should deal with helps not at all.
I have told Bill Bryson that I will support his proposed campaign wholeheartedly. I have also told him that success will not be easy. Unfortunately, the people who indulge in fly tipping are probably not readers of his books nor do they share his love of the countryside. If they did they would surely stop doing it.
But perhaps a new approach is needed to make it more attractive to take rubbish where it should go. Maybe Bill Bryson could use his and the CPRE's influence to persuade councils to allow people with rubbish to dispose of to do it free of charge even if they are deemed as businesses rather than private individuals. For there is little doubt that charges levied at council collection points are a significant factor in driving the unscrupulous to use farm gateways.
Perhaps the idea could be developed further so that farmers who collect and deliver the results of other peoples fly tipping to council pits could be paid for the public service of clearing up the countryside. At present this represents an unwelcome cost to an already hard pressed industry. Payment, even if only enough to cover costs, would at least remove this burden and would encourage farmers to set a better example to others.
Go for it Bill and I really hope you succeed.