Contradictory

AND what will the non-pooper scoopers do now if they can't walk their dogs on the beach? Well they'll take to the promenade, of course, and with no money for more pooping scooping bins, residents can all look forward to poo-hopping! Like me, most pet owners are conscientious pooper scoopers (£1 for 100 from Poundland). Wherever I go; on the beach, in the tide, up the woods, I have several bags ready and I take them home or bin them. Sometimes we run out and someone will always have a spare. I find it exceptionally contradictory that my dogs have to negotiate plastic bags of waste food and other rubbish left behind or buried by neglectful and careless visitors and worse still, washed up. Or that I need to inspect my chosen spot before my grandchildren can sit for fear of finding half eaten buns or a paper cup and, last year, a dirty nappy! The gulls are so used to all the rubbish left on the beach they help themselves to picnics! Most dog walkers use the beach because of its beauty and the freedom it offers them and their animals. The tideline is a very sociable place for dog walkers and their pets. The beach would be empty without the dog walkers out of season. We could, of course, turn our tale to the filth left on the streets; the wonderful Silica and the pebble dashed pavement of bubblegum surrounding it and across the road outside McDonald's. You know exactly where you are! The council should be looking at encouraging visitors, not turning them away. After all, there's not much left to attract them to the beach - no boating lakes or paddling pools, or even bigger, the Tropicana. I hope the council keeps the dog warden employed as he's going to be pretty busy this summer with all the dogs left in the cars by those thoughtless tourists. And the final nail to hit the coffin for tourism: parking meters. What can I say? I'll leave that to someone else - I'm lost for words.VALERIE THOMSON - Via Email