OVERFLOWING bins in a popular park are the result of ‘unprecedented’ spending cuts, council bosses have admitted.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has reduced litter picking and park maintenance as part of its £33million spending cuts programme.

Town hall bosses said the fine weather at the weekend had made the situation worse and urged residents to take rubbish home if the bins were full.

A user of Witton Park in Blackburn said the litter bins were ‘overwhelmed by rubbish’ every time the sun came out.

Lower Darwen resident Brian Morris, who took these photographs to illustrate the problem, said that the cuts were ‘counter-productive’ because it would cost more to clean up the mess.

He said: “The government and local authority encourage the public to act responsibly and dispose of their rubbish sensibly in the bins provided.

“This encouragement has worked as people inundate the bins with rubbish; the photographic evidence is clear.

“People do this because they respect the environment and want a nice, clean place to spend their leisure time with friends and family.

“That is not, however, what happens as the rubbish ends up all over the place.

“I suspect this is because the local authority fail to regularly empty the bins provided.

"This leads to overflow which leads to rubbish piled up next to the bins.”

Councillor Faryad Hussain, executive member for environmental improvement and sustainability, said: “Due to unprecedented budget cuts we no longer have the resources to carry out litter picking and bin collections at the park over the weekends with the same frequency as before.

“The good weather last weekend brought large numbers of visitors to the park and many did not take their rubbish away.

“Whilst we try to keep our parks as clean as possible, it is vitally important that the public take responsibility for disposing of their own rubbish if a bin is unavailable.”