LUDGERSHALL's new parish council chairman is aiming to make war on litter in the village.

Chris Williams said: "I think we need to make a concerted effort to clean up this village and if necessary name and shame the culprits.

"The existing situation is embarrassing."

The parish could follow Tidworth's lead and employ extra personnel in a blitz on the litterbugs in the village.

Tidworth Development Trust chief executive, Steve Lawton, said: "The trust employs someone on behalf of the parish council in Tidworth and I'm sure we could extend his hours to work in Ludgershall."

A major problem in both communities has been people overloading the amenity skips intended for larger items.

The skip are left around the area on a rota basis but they can be filled up in a very short time.

District council Peter Richard-son said he had seen one skip delivered early in the morning only for it to become filled by 10.30am and then taken away by contractors.

People continued to come to the spot and dump their rubbish even though the skip had been removed. Children have been attracted to the rubbish and in some cases taken it away so that they can use it to make dens.

"If the service is abused or skips are overfilled it causes great problems and offending sites may have to be removed from the rota," warned parish clerk Janet White.

People with access to transport can take items to the Everleigh recycling centre or to Andover.