A PENSIONER is calling for action after comparing the football pitches near Pleasington Cemetery to ‘slums’ following weekend football matches.

And now council bosses are planning to contact local sports teams to ask them to be more responsible with their rubbish.

Peter Holden, 70, of Commonside, Whalley, often walks over the litter-strewn pitches after visiting his parents’ headstones at the cemetery, with his dog Alfie.

On Saturday, which would have been his father’s birthday, he visited the grounds and said he was compelled to contact the Lancashire Telegraph.

He said: “People have no respect for anything. They have no civic pride.

“Just after the game was finished, the touchline was full of drinks cans, coffee cups, waste paper, and all sorts of rubbish.

“Bins are provided just five yards away, but every touchline is littered with rubbish that the spectators and players disregard. After 90 minutes it looks like Whinney Hill tip.”

Peter said he often picked up the rubbish himself. He said: “I’m disgusted that the town I was born and bred in resembles a slum. It’s a disgrace. There are ample bins around Pleasington, but people are too lazy to use them.”

Tony Watson, head of environmental services at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: “To just throw your litter on the ground is lazy, irresponsible, and could be dangerous. We have ground staff who undertake regular litter picks at the site and plenty of people have responded to the coun-cil’s Your Call campaign and volunteered in litter picks to show they are proud of their communities, but people shoul- dn’t create this mess in the first place.

“We are planning to make further representations to the football and also cricket leagues to ask their memb-ers and supporters to be more responsible with their rubbish and to have a bit more respect for the area and other park users.”

Billy Markham, secretary of Blackburn Football Comb- ination, whose teams play at the site on a Saturday, said players and spectators were encouraged to use the bins for litter.

“We do make a positive effort to make sure the clubs clean up after themselves.

“Now the issue has been brought to my attention we will highlight it for the last couple of games before the end of the season.”