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Editor's Viewpoint: Another fine mess in Rugby
Readers turning to pages 4 and 17 of today's paper will notice a letter and a story that totally contradict each other.
On the letters page, a correspondent, returning to the town after many years, commends Rugby as 'clean and friendly - you deserve to be very proud.'
It's a more grimy town that comes across in page 17's lead story, where a survey names and shames us as having some of the dirtiest streets in the West Midlands.
So which is it? The truth seems to be that there are two Rugbys. In the centre, Rugby BID Company wages a largely successful daily battle against the congealed chewing gum that pebble-dashes the pavements, and the paper trails left by irresponsible litter louts.
But wander a little further afield into the streets where Rugby Borough Council has to pick up after us and things would appear to be very different.
The implication is that councils need to employ more street cleaners and that a levy on fast food outlets could help fund this.
I, for one, wouldn't want to let either of those two parties off the hook, but the road to cleaner streets is littered with good intentions.
As long as people treat the roads they walk along as giant dustbins, expecting someone else to tidy away their jettisoned junk, things won't get better. And those who lob cigarette ends everywhere are some of the worst offenders.
It is all about taking responsibility for the public spaces we share with each other. By all means wallow in squalor at home - if that is what you prefer, but don't mess up everyone's lives.
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Weather for Rugby
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: -5 C to -1 C
Wind Speed: 6 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North west
