FLY-TIPPERS have dumped ‘lorry loads of bin bags’ at a lay-by in Burnley.

Huge amounts of waste have been fly-tipped over the fence at the layby viewpoint on Bacup Road.

The mess was photographed by Burnley resident, Elsie Thornber on Sunday afternoon.

She said: “I just happened to look over the fence at the Bacup Road lay-by and this is what I saw ­— lorry loads of bags.

“I’ve emailed the council's streetscene, but this has obviously been going on for some time judging by the amount of stuff down there.

“Fly-tipping is a scourge and the people responsible should be made to clear the mess up or pay for it to be cleared.”

It was reported to Councillor Cosima Towneley, executive member for community and environmental services at Burnley Council, who said the fly-tippers are contributing to ‘environmental degradation’.

Cllr Towneley said the fly-tipping at that particular site had been reported on several occasions in the past few months.

She is campaigning to get the layby, situated on the A671 Bacup Road, closed.

She said: “I’ve been fighting for this layby to be closed for some time as this is the filth that some people are dumping there. I have reported this to the county council and streetscene know about it too. I’ve had conversations with the highways team and they said they could put some netting up to prevent people dumping rubbish over the fence.

“But then what happens? People will still throw rubbish there and it will get caught in the netting and it will be the borough council who have to clean it up. You can’t expect public funding to be used month in, month out to clear these areas.

“The type of people who do this do it because they can’t be bothered disposing of rubbish in the correct way.

“There are groups of people who offer householders a waste removal service at a low cost, but this is where they dump the rubbish.

“I would say to anyone thinking of using these kind of services to check these people have a licence to transfer waste otherwise they could be liable for a fine.

“The onus is on the householder to dispose of their waste responsibly, otherwise they are contributing to this environmental degradation.”