REGULAR fly-tipping incidents are causing rats in one part of Accrington, according to residents.

A call for a camera to be sited at wasteland on Crossland Street was made after a sofa and shredded packing materials were strewn across the patch.

The tipping incident, close to the railway line on Monday, is just one in a series of incidents, according to resident and business owner, Gul Zaman.

He said rats were now being seen because vans regularly dump rubbish on the site, just a few streets away from Hyndburn Council’s environmental health team base at Willow’s Lane.

He said: “It’s a common sight to see vans bringing down all sorts of rubbish. All the residents around here think something needs to be done. We need a camera to catch who is doing it to put a stop to it. As residents, we can’t just go down to someone who is unloading a van and ask them what they are doing.

“It needs to be properly investigated. I’ve seen them leave piles of bags and one time they left tonnes of old Christmas trees.

“The council filled two skips when they cleared it up. It must be costing a fortune because it is happening very frequently.

”Now we are seeing lots of rats and mice on a regular basis because there is so much rubbish.”

A spokeswoman for Hyndburn Council said rubbish bags dumped in the borough were searched for evidence of mail and documentation.

The council is expected to remove the dumped sofa in the next few days as part of routine bin collections.

Central ward councillor, Abdul Khan, urged residents to let him know if they were encountering regular problems.

He said: “I’ve just been to take a look at the site and I will be taking the issue up with the environment department.

“We councillors are here for residents to approach with these sorts of problems. We can take a look at what can be done to tackle the fly-tipping and it’s best we work with residents to do that.”