Water mess for wildlife

11:19am Thursday 27th March 2008

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A PHOTOGRAPH of a duck trapped in rubbish on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal has sparked outrage from walkers and councillors.

The stretch from Rishton to Church has been branded "horrendous for wildlife" after the picture was taken on Bank Holiday Monday.

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Cath Holmes, the walker who spotted the distressed animal, said the area was "a disgusting mess."

She said she couldn't bel-ieve the amount of rubbish she encountered between Church and Rishton.

She said: "We were disgusted with the filthy state, not only of the canal, but adjacent sites spilling rubbish into the canal.

"The towpath was littered with dog excrement.

"The amount of plastic bottles, wheelie bin lids and plastic sheeting was unbelievable."

Councillors have partly blamed residents who live near the canal. Coun John Broadley said the houses were untidy, and rubbish was blowing across the towpath and into the water.

"It seems to be a worse here than in the rest of town," he said.

"It is made worse by people tipping in bits of metal, like scaffolding and abandoning cars.

"There was even an aban-doned bus here at one time."

Coun Jennet Liddle said young people were to blame.

She said: "I think it is a crying shame.

"We want people to come to this area.

"The impact is obvious. It is just horrendous for the wildlife."

The Rishton Prospects Panel regularly runs cleaning campaigns along the canal, but can only tackle the towpaths.

British Waterways is responsible for the upkeep of the canal.

Colin Cooper, from the group, said they should carry out more patrols through the winter.

He said: "All the vegetation at the side of the canal has died down and you can get to the rubbish. It's not like it in summer."

Mr Cooper said a recent clean of the stretch between Rishton and Blackburn returned "four or five bags of bottles and a dozen sacks of general rubbish."

"People are just irres-ponsible," he said.

Coun Liddle agreed it was a town-wide problem.

"We are placing more bins around the borough, but you're always going to get people in the community who don't care," she said.

John Clayton of British Waterways said: "Mainten-ance work is undertaken all year round on our water-ways. Until people take responsibility for their rubbish, this will be a never ending battle."

"The main culprits are the ubiquitous shopping trolley and discarded plastic bags, which not only look unsightly, but are potentially lethal to waterfowl and other waterway wildlife."