A LOCAL conservation trust is to put pressure on the district council to adopt some bye-laws to aid it in its fight against illegal activity in the town's beauty spots.

Dr Bill Wain, chairman of the Deadwater Valley Trust (DWT) announced in the trust's newsletter that a document it had submitted to EHDC's legal department is due to be discussed next month at the north east area community committee.

These proposals have been put forward by DWT because much of its time is taken up cleaning up after people who dump waste on the nature reserves of Bordon and Whitehill.

The Herald highlighted the DWT's plight last month and Dr Wain pointed out that the district council provides a local recycling centre which takes garden waste, and local residents can rent green bins for £12 per year, and these are emptied every fortnight.

Dr Wain said: "The dumping is unsightly and once you get one person doing it somebody else does it, too,' so it becomes a vicious circle."

Dr Wain attempted to get the matter resolved before Christmas without success but he was pleased with the support he had received from the local police.

"One good point is that the EHDC legal department contacted Whitehill Police Station, which confirmed that the police welcomed the bye-laws and that the police would use the laws to prosecute offenders," said Dr Wain.

On a brighter note, Dr Wain's letter stated that several Deadwater Valley trustees had taken part in a new environment conservation group, which hopes to raise awareness of the richness of area, especially Whitehill.

Dr Wain added: "The overall intention of the group is to produce a local biodiversity action plan for the parish by the end of 2006. The 1,000 records for the Deadwater Valley local nature reserve give us a head start.

"The trustees have sent a grant application to the refuse collectors, Onyx, to benefit from the landfill tax system.

"This requires sand and gravel extraction companies to invest in charitable organisations close to their extraction sites and we have several of those close by. We need the money to repair and improve the footpath beside the river by Mill Chase Community Technology College.

The grant will also provide improvements to other parts of the path network through the reserve and some signs and interpretation boards."