IT’S a weekly occurrence to read in the Warrington Guardian about the rubbish discarded down back alleys and left for someone else to deal with.

In my neck of the woods one estate used to have a couple of skips delivered by the housing association in to which residents could discard their old possessions but this practice has ceased due to the high costs.

I have just reported a discarded mattress left in an alleyway in a close that I believe will be collected because I can identify ownership of the property.

However it is those properties where I can’t that the issue becomes a problem.

For weeks now a neighbour of mine has been asking for a pile of concrete flags to be removed.

They have ended up in the hedges alongside Enfield Park Road having been thrown over a Blackledge Close wall.

On top of the wall is a new fence indicating that gardening work has recently been done.

There is a stand-off between Warrington Borough Council and Muir Housing as to who should remove the flags.

As a former councillor I spent a long time understanding who was responsible for what landscape jobs, be it grass cutting or hedge trimming. Poulton North is a very green place and residents throughout the ward from day one challenged me to get the green canopy sorted as well as fly tipping.

I thought that this would be simple but soon realised that it wasn’t because it was very hard to find out who was responsible for what.

I termed this issue as the ‘patch work quilt of responsibility’.

Eventually after a year or so I started making progress and the landscape started to be worked on and improvements and schedules worked out and fly tipping dealt with.

Unfortunately, it looks like it has come back and the maps are once more in dispute and enforcement isn’t working.

GEOFF SETTLE Warrington