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Motorways and Trunk Roads (Litter)

I could not find a breakdown of what proportion of that litter is coming from private vehicles, as people go about their normal daily business in their cars or vans, and what proportion is escaping from refuse vehicles or skips, which is a problem that I alluded to earlier. I suspect that any such breakdown would largely be guesswork, anyway. There is legislation on the statute book to deal with the problem of litter escaping from commercial vehicles. We have all driven down the highways of this country behind a lorry and seen litter—commercial paper, etc.—escaping from the back of those vehicles. I hope that the Minister will address that issue when he responds to the debate. Apparently 13 tonnes of litter are being thrown from vehicles every week. However, according to the figures that I have here, 50 tonnes of litter are being cleared from just five motorways. So, are there special roads in this country that are being cleared while other roads are not being cleared? Clearly, the M1 in my part of the world, which is the responsibility of the Highways Agency, is hardly being cleared up at all. As I have said, I know that simply by looking casually out of my car window and seeing the length of time that some litter has been left in place. However, it is not just the Highways Agency that is responsible. Some local authorities, particularly the county authorities, have their own highways teams. In my own constituency, for instance, the A41 is a wonderful bypass that was put in several years ago. To come into Hemel Hempstead from the west, drivers come off the A41. However, it is possible to mark the line when a driver enters my local council's area by the litter line. That litter line is there. It is also possible to mark the line by seeing how the hedgerows have been cut back, etc. So I have a question to put to the Minister; I noticed that he was nodding, from a sedentary position, when I mentioned that 13 tonnes of litter is being discarded from vehicles every week. I want to ask him how the cleaning of that litter is being carried out. What sort of system is in place? Frankly, I am very angry that our beautiful countryside is being blighted. To meet our transport needs, motorways cut through the Chilterns and many other great and beautiful areas of our country. But people, such as my constituents, who pay their taxes, including huge amounts of road tax and other duty, are driving along the highways and byways of the country to look at what? If someone is a passenger, they look out of their window and what do they see? Refuse. Everywhere you go, there is rubbish and litter. In my personal view, I do not think that it should be the job of the Government to pay lots of people to clean up that rubbish. Clearly, that is what we are doing; I am sure that the Minister will tell me how much the different agencies are spending on that work. I think that the people who should also contribute to this work are the people who need to pay back the community when they have done something wrong but who have not been sent to prison. I am particularly interested in the wonderful community punishment and rehabilitation orders that our courts are being encouraged to give out to defendants who have been found guilty of certain offences. The sorts of projects that those people should be doing are supposed to be priority projects to allow high volumes of offenders to work in the community safely. I cannot think of a better thing for someone who has committed a crime and gone through the court process but not been sent to a prison than to have to carry out—as it says on the packet—a "punishment and rehabilitation order", to come out into the community and pay back the community by fixing something that has been blighted and damaged.