BLACKBURN businessman Peter Lovett is calling for tougher action to tackle fly-tipping in the alleyway behind his shop in Mill Hill.

He has accused the borough council of failing to deal with the problem.

Now Mr Lovett has enlisted Tory Parliamentary candidate Bob Eastwood into his campaign to stop the rubbish dumping.

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The former senior police officer, standing against council leader Kate Hollern in May’s General Election, has called for new security measures including CCTV to tackle the problem.

Mr Lovett was spurred into action after he saw rats in the alley behind his Alison’s Blind shop, in New Wellington Street.

Mr Eastwood said: “The council has done a good job erecting alley gates across Blackburn as they help reassure residents and reduce crime.

“In this case it is not working as well as it could do.

“A lot of residents don’t have keys and cannot get their bins out of the gates and others don’t have bins so are using the back alley to dump household waste.

“Mr Lovett has called Blackburn with Darwen council on several occasions and workers do remove the rubbish.

“ It seems to be a vicious circle with the council wasting valuable time and residents having to put up with vermin.

“I understand a lot of the properties are rented so I suggest the council works with landlords to ensure tenants have bins and keys for the gates and use them in the correct manner.

“CCTV would also be an option to deter people from dumping rubbish in the first place.”

Mr Lovett said: “At times the rubbish can be several feet deep and it’s not uncommon to see rats, some of which are an incredible size.

“The stench during the summer months was unbelievable and it’s a total waste of taxpayers’ money to expect the council to keep shifting rubbish when there could be a better system.”

Council environment director Sayyed Osman said: “All residents are issued with an initial key for their alley gate, and can request further keys from the council. Flytipping and littering is something we actively work to combat in any way possible, prosecuting where we can those found to be dumping rubbish.

“It is crucial that the minority of residents who tarnish our borough by dumping rubbish take responsibility for their behaviour,.

“Through prosecutions and naming and shaming we work to ensure this is the case.

“We ask residents to report flytipping on 01254 585921.”