FLY-TIPPING travellers are turning Bamber Bridge into a giant junkyard, according to a local councillor.

Tom Hanson, a Bamber Bridge councillor, has urged people to keep the town tidy after a spate of visits from gipsies, who spend a few days on a site before moving on.

Their latest visit to the town, at Wesley Street Mill, resulted in a massive clear-up operation by South Ribble Borough Council.

Sixty caravans were booted off the site, leaving a trail of litter behind.

Now Coun Hanson has sent a message to Bamber Bridge residents, asking them to help ease the problem.

He told the Citizen: "This area has difficulties coping with travellers because there are plenty of sites here which are ideal for them.

"They arrive, stay a few days, and then move on, leaving all their rubbish behind. If it isn't cleaned up quickly it is either blown around the town or the place becomes a haven for rats.

"Bamber Bridge is a very tidy town and it is up to us to make sure it does not degenerate."

Coun Hanson pointed to a recent incident in Kingsway, when a stack of dumped rubbish led to other people using the site as a public tip.

He added: "If people see there is rubbish around they will think it is fine to dump their stuff there as well.

"We have to control it before it gets out of hand. There are plenty of local tips where people can go to deposit their rubbish. I would urge everyone to use those."

Other sites in South Ribble have become targets for the gipsies. Most recently, a Leyland landowner was forced to cover his land in pig slurry after travellers were evicted from his Centurion Way site.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.