This weekend, 1,500 people volunteers will be on the march in Oxford cleaning up the best part of 100 litter-strewn sites.

It is a fantastic response to the Oxclean spring clean organised by Oxford Civic Society and supported by this newspaper and Oxford City Council.

There could be no clearer demonstration that we do care about our environment and that we are prepared to do something ourselves to ensure it is kept clean.

Some have questioned why we should need volunteers to clear up the spaces around us. Surely that is the job of the council, they say.

In some respoects, it is the job of the council to keep the environment clean, but can we expect our local authorities to be on top of every single nook and cranny. Key, highly trafficked areas like city and town centres and major routes are those we want to kept clean b y our councils. We all have a responsibility to ensure the areas around us are kept as clean as possible.

This, surely, is the key message of Oxclean. By getting out in such numbers this weekend, we are not only sending a message that we are all responsible for cleaning up the areas around us, but also that we are also all responsible for ensuring that our treasured spaces do not get iunto a mess in the first place.