By Carol HaytonThe festivities may have ended over a month ago but thanks to Horsham Council the vestiges of Christmas could be seen through most of January.
Their failure to effectively manage the waste collection service through the bank holidays and the bad weather meant that Christmas trees continued to line our streets. Not, alas, dripping with shining baubles and glittering lights but poking, brown and decaying, from the tops of recycling bins, placed neatly along the streets in the vain hope of collection.
Those unfortunate residents who would normally expect a bin collection on Monday were still the unhappy guardians of piles of cans, Christmas paper and cardboard packaging for three weeks after Christmas. The contents of overflowing recycling baskets remained uncollected due the lack of a rescheduled collection and the Council's failure to grit the roads. So whilst the rest of us were expected to slip and swerve in an attempt to go about our business it seems the Council closed their business down.
But that's all behind us, or is it? The streets are strewn with the stray litter that escaped over the weeks from overflowing bins. The roads are now full of potholes within the potholes that resulted from last year's bad weather and were still awaiting repair. All this adds to the general gloom created by the many boarded up and barricaded council sites around the town.
So with a new election year before us, some may be wondering what it would be like if after election day the Conservatives were running the country. A look at how well they are managing in one small district may give you a clue.
Do you think Horsham council are doing a good job for the town? Vote in the poll currently running on the right-hand side of this page.