RESIDENTS are being warned they will be taken to court if they allow domestic rubbish to build up outside their homes.

Burnley Council issued the warning after Jacqueline Coppin was fined £100 when she dumped items including a bathtub, toilet and household waste outside her former home in Leyland Road, Burnley.

Joyce Walkden, the council's principal environmental health officer, said: "This case shows that people cannot think they can simply allow their waste to sit outside the house and get away with leaving it there.

"Not only is this kind of activity extremely anti-social but it can cause serious environm-ental hazards."

Coppin, 36, admitted the rubbish had come from her house when she appeared before magistrates in Reedley.

Sajada Khan, prosecuting on behalf of Burnley Council, said the council had first been alerted to the waste after a complaint of fly tipped rubbish was made by a member of the public.

Subsequent investiga-tions by council officers revealed that the rubbish had come from Coppin's property.

Coppin admitted she had been responsible for the rubbish not being removed in an appropriate manner from the back street.

She subsequently pleaded guilty to being negligent over her duty of care to dispose of the rubbish correctly, contrary to Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

Magistrates fined her £100 for the offence. In addition she was ordered to pay a further £100 in costs.

In sentencing, magistrates said an aggravating feature in the case had been the nuisance caused to neighbouring residents by the dumped waste.