WINTON School headteacher Andrew Smith has launched a crackdown on litter in a bid to tackle the growing problem of rubbish in the grounds.

Mr Smith says rubbish has accumulated over many years and is lying half buried as plants and roots grow up through it. In a letter to parents Mr Smith says: "The trees and shrubs around the edges of the site were planted by pupils and parents about 15 years ago.

"Since that time they have established so well that now they present us with a management problem.

"We are planning to spend thousands of pounds to cut them back and keep them clear.

"This is not only so we can clear out the accumulated rubbish, but also because we feel the thick bushes and trees provide shelter and hiding places for undesirable characters that may wish to lurk on the edges of the school site."

Many pupils, he says, do regularly use the bins to put their rubbish in.

"However, there are too many pupils who just throw their rubbish down on the floor.

"We have many bins all around the site, and any one of us is only ever a few metres from a bin."

But one place there are no bins is on the school field, on which pupils like to play games - especially as the weather improves.

Mr Smith added: "At the present time I can not allow pupils to use this field as the litter they are currently dropping around the school would be distributed all over the field." As part of the campaign Andover MP Sir George Young joined forces with other volunteers recently to help collect litter from the grounds of Winton School for the Grand Spring Clean.

With him were his wife, Aurelia, and granddaughter, Phoebe, as they helped collect between 40 and 45 bags of rubbish. The litter pickers also included Test Valley councillor and school governor Marion Kerley, head teacher Mr Smith and school governor Jim Todd.

Parents and children turned out as well to make up a litter-cleaning force of about 45 people.