I am writing in response to the letter from Christine Shepherd (Your Letters, May 9). I fully agree and sympathise with her anger and concern at the apparent complete lack of political vision and will displayed throughout the county of Worcester-shire with regards to effective, long-term planning for the conservation and protection of natural resources.

She is right to ask 'What is wrong with this county' and could easily extend this question to include the whole country. On sustainable and environmental issues, Britain lags far behind much of Europe and our politicians too often display an arrogant and complacent attitude towards protecting and conserving the natural world for future generations of all species.

As for our local area, the recycling facilities have always been totally inadequate and it's both shameful and short-sighted that the revamped household waste depot is not state of the art and providing recycling facilities for the mountains of plastic which increasingly seem to be an unavoidable part of our daily lives.

There is a growing market for recycled goods - if the will is there, they can be found.

In Malvern, we are still waiting for a kerbside recycling collection service which should have been implemented 20 years ago! The excuse is always one of lack of finance and/or resources, yet money is regularly found for less important, environmentally-damaging and unsustainable schemes.

Our local authority has also shown little or no interest in supporting Local Agenda 21 and instead has relied on the goodwill, community spirit and civic pride of a small group of caring individuals to organise this initiative which should be at the heart of local politics! MHDC is also still without a sustainability officer who would ensure that sustainable development is put firmly at the top of the political, environmental, economic, cultural and social agendas.

Recycling is now yesterday's news! We should be concentrating on 'waste minimisation' and reducing potential waste at source so the need for recycling - which can also be wasteful and polluting - is removed.

Jan Dyer, Old Hollow, Malvern.