A LOCAL charity has become increasingly frustrated with residents who are dumping rubbish in the town's beauty spots.
Bill Wain, DWT's chairman, said: "Recently we have found grass cuttings, which have been dumped. Earlier on in the year, people are dumping garden plants, which can then grow and that is a problem. People are, therefore, introducing alien species into what has been designated a local nature reserve, such as rhododendrons and fuchsias.
He added: "The district council has a local amenity recycling centre, which takes garden waste, and local residents can cheaply rent green bins, which get emptied every fortnight with the recycling.
"The dumping is unsightly, and once you get one person doing it, somebody else thinks 'oh it's just round the corner, so I'll go and do it too.' It becomes a vicious circle."
A great deal of time is spent on retrieving items from the river and, in particular, Somerfield shopping trolleys.
Dr Wain said that Portsmouth City Council charges Somerfield hundreds of pounds each time it retrieves a trolley from the river, but Whitehill Town Council and the DWT take a different approach.
"We have taken a solution, which I believe is of greater benefit to the community. The Deadwater Valley Trust recovers the trolleys and, in return, Somerfield is generous when the trust asks for support for a barbecue or Christmas party.
"It is much more cost effective for Somerfield, but it isn't always easy to recover the trollies. "Some of our members are unable to retrieve items from the river, so people like myself and Mike Wearing (a DWT ranger) have to do it, but there can be difficulties when the river is high. On occasion there is stuff that we can't shift and we will ask the town council to employ a contractor to get rid of it," said Dr Wain.
Dr Wain explained that, adding to the charity's workload, members must also deal with repairs as a result of vandalism. Fencing is often broken and in need of repair. For example, recently a fence was set on fire, and this also damaged a neighbouring tree, which the DWT was left to attend to.
Dr Wain added: "At last Tuesday's north east area community committee meeting, I reminded councillors that following the introduction of the alternate week collection system, it was claimed that there was no increase in fly-tipping and garden waste within the district.
"That may have been true on district land, but it's certainly not true here."
Because of the clear-up, restoration and emergency work, the DWT does not have the time to get on with the other duties required in the nature reserve.
"We would like to do planned management rather than coping with emergencies, but we spend too much time collecting rubbish and repairing the broken fences, which allow people to bring the rubbish in," said Dr Wain.
Under the new anti-litter laws, it is an offence to fly-tip and for the last two years, the DWT and the town council have been trying to get some by-laws which are specific to the nature reserve.
Dr Wain said: "At present, they are going through the final stages of the legal department at EHDC, because by-laws are now a district council matter, rather than a town council one.
"The town council and DWT were very much involved in drafting the by-laws and consulting with various organisations to ensure the laws were appropriate for the local nature reserve."
And as a final word of caution, depending on the nature of the offence fly-tippers are risking anything from a warning to a very hefty fine.