A MAN has blasted Blacburn with Darwen council after bags of rotting meat were left dumped next to a busy street.

Anthony Harrington discovered around 10 sacks of rotten food on waste land near houses. Some of the bags had burst open.

But the 40-year-old labourer claimed that when he rang environmental health officers, they told him it would take up to 10 days for the waste to be collected.

Mr Harrington, of Cambridge Close, Higher Audley, made the discovery at the junction of nearby Oxford Close and Higher Audley Street.

He said: “I was walking my dogs round there when I found them. Someone, presumably a butcher, had dumped them at night so he could get away with it.

“But after they were dumped, kids had been at the bags, even taking out some of the meat.”

Shocked Mr Harrington immediately called Blackburn with Darwen Council environmental health officers, but said he was told it could take them up to 10 days for the mess to be cleared up.

He said: “When they said to me it might take them 10 days to move it, I was gobsmacked and I was asking them why. They said it was procedure. But that meat was rotting and anyone could get at it.”

The bags have since been removed by officers. A Blackburn with Darwen Council spokesman said: “The incident was reported on October 20 and was removed within two days, which is council policy.”