Worthwhile battle to beat the flytippers ...

Cities were largely graffiti-free, dropping litter appeared to be unthinkable and the concept of fly-tipping was anathema.

It was a pleasure to visit but shaming in comparison with Great Britain.

Alas, times change. Austrian autobahn flyovers are now smothered in the kind of defacing "street art" which has come to be the accepted norm here. We mention Austria's sad fall from grace as an indicator of how fragile today's standards are. Similar changes can be observed wherever one travels.

At a little ceremony in Sidley on Tuesday morning a conveniently hidden corner on a footpath linking Watermill Lane and Faygate Close was transformed in a matter of minutes.

Into that small but secluded space, fly-tippers had dumped over a matter of time a staggering array of rubbish. It ranged from discarded toys to a three-piece suite, wooden panels to garden waste.

Just as the contractors thought they had completed their clearance one tripped over a BMX bike hidden in the long grass ...

It seems there is no limit to the lengths to which fly-tippers will go to dispose of unwanted items without putting themselves to the trouble of taking them to the household tip.

Now comes a partnership initiative involving the police, the contractors, Rother council, the Safer Rother Partnership and, hopefully the social landlords, to bring about a change.

The hope is that by clearing fly-tipping, by washing off graffiti and by planting Spring bulbs the community conscience can be pricked.

Evidently, it was all too easy for Austria's hard-won reputation '“ so important to its tourist industry '“ to be lost.

Bump-starting a trend here in the reverse direction will be far harder. But a start has to be made somewhere.

Not represented at Tuesday's clean-up gathering in Sidley was the other partner in the enterprise; the major partner.

Without the support of the public, or at least a substantial proportion of the public, the dream of a cleaner, tidier, altogether more pleasant and agreeable, community is doomed from the outset.

Fly-tippers have used the Faygate Close footpath because it is screened by trees and is not overlooked. This could be changed if overgrown trees and shrubbery were cut back.

Police efforts to trace illegal tippers are frequently frustrated because few witnesses are prepared to give evidence. This could be changed. But it would require a fundamental shift in public attitude.

The road to greater community self-respect would be long and sometimes hard. But it is not impossible. One only has to think back to last Spring to recall the pleasure brought by the efforts of Sidley schoolchildren in planting bulbs the previous Autumn.

Surely, if a sea of daffodils in season is such a joy the year-round absence of graffiti, litter and fly-tipping would be a goal worth seeking?