I HAVE lived in the Borough of Stockton for all of my 45 years and I do not like what I see around me. Earlier this week, an Audit Commission report said that Stockton had some of the dirtiest streets in the country, dirtier than some inner city areas. Barely half of Stockton's streets were up to scratch in terms of cleanliness.

It doesn't surprise me.

When I was growing up, Stockton was a typical, old-fashioned market town. It had the widest high street in the country with a real North Yorkshire feel to it. It was distinctly different from Middlesbrough down the road.

Now, at a time when people cast envious glances at the true North Yorkshire market towns of Northallerton, Helmsley, Skipton and York itself, Stockton feels like a suburban satellite of Middlesbrough.

Its high street is a glorified bus station and its shopping centre is bland and anonymous, full of names you would find anywhere else. The individual shops that I remember were far better.

A little further along, the £43m Wellington Square shopping centre is springing up. I'm sure it will look very nice and modern, but a little part of the fabric of the community disappeared when the 99-year-old Baptist Tabernacle was knocked down.

I am no Luddite. I know there must be progress. I know Stockton must move on. And I think the redevelopment on the riverside is splendid. Full marks to all concerned - although it is a shame that it is cut off from the town centre by the modern dual carriageway.

For these planning disasters of the last 30 years, the council can be blamed. But I do not believe it can take the full blame for the state of its streets. Of course, it should do its best to tidy them up, but who put the litter there in the first place?

The public. It is the people of Stockton's fault that their streets are so untidy. They, too, must share the responsibility.

It's the same with the state of the country lanes leading to Stockton. They're covered with litter. But that's not the fault of the council. It is the fault of the people who bag up their rubbish, put it in their car, drive it to the edge of town and lob it out of the window.

One of the most heartening things I read in the papers this week was the introduction of community wardens in Langbaurgh. Two each have just been employed in Normanby, Eston and Brotton, and soon the scheme will go borough-wide. These wardens can fine people on the spot for dog-fouling or litter-dropping, and they will be able to phone a works team to come and clear up if there is a serious problem.

Stockton council should be monitoring this scheme closely.

Meanwhile, Stockton people should be monitoring the litter-dropping habits of their families. And perhaps if all of us Stocktonians clean up our acts, the council won't have to employ more street-cleaners and we'll get a few quid off our council tax.

I was back in the car this week for a trip down to London. I wanted to go by train, but I called last week and asked for times seven days in advance - and they were not able to tell me.

I tried the bus company. It wasn't particularly cheap, and its journey time was the best part of six-and-a-half hours. So I went in the car, and so put another nail in the coffin of John Prescott's transport policy.

The first tomato of the General Election campaign was thrown last week, and polling day is looking like April or May. Surely transport, to go with my old favourite, law and order, will be top of the agenda. I, for one, will be looking for answers.

www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/news/ mallon.htm