A BOROUGH boss was shocked when staff showed him a picture of a bath and bedbase dumped in a suburban back alley.

Hyndburn Council Leader, Cllr Miles Parkinson branded the fly-tippers who did it as 'selfish and irresponsible'.

Borough MP Sara Britcliffe said she was 'appalled' at the incident in Great Harwood.

The two politicians joined together to call on residents not to leave rubbish on the streets during the current coronavirus crisis.

The weekend incident is the latest example of fly-tipping during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Last week Blackburn with Darwen Council environment boss Jim Smith branded several fly-tipping incidents in Darwen ‘simply disgusting’.

Local Darwen East ward's Cllr Roy Davies said the waste dumping was 'appalling' in the current circumstances,

The Lancashire Telegraph has also been contacted about recent fly-tipping on the road between Great Harwood and Wilpshire and at a layby on the A671 Bacup to Burnley Road last month,

Cllr Parkinson has appealed to would-be fly tippers think about the effect of their actions on council staff and the community after the rubbish, including a bath and a bed base was dumped in a back alley off Water St in Great Harwood over the weekend.

He said; “It’s shocking that at this time of national crisis, when our resources are so stretched, that these selfish and irresponsible individuals still choose to dump waste, putting our waste staff under more strain and, more importantly, risking their health while diverting them from the essential task of picking up waste and recycling bins each week from the boroughs 36,000 households.

"I say to them and others of the same mind:'please, please, think about what you are doing'. This is a time when we all need to think of others in our community,

"The selfish actions of individuals like these fly tippers has a massive impact on council services, when our fantastic staff are working under really tough conditions to keep front line services going.

“We are all grateful to our waste teams, please think about them and help us to keep them safe ”

"We’re already looking into this for evidence which will allow us to prosecute, if anyone has information the should email enquiries@hyndburnbc.gov.uk.”

Miss Britcliffe said: "I think this is appalling. Fly-tipping is always appalling but it is particularly so during the current coronavirus crisis. Please just don't to it when our waste staff and bin collectors are working do hard on all our behalf."

Last week Cllr Smith said: "I appeal to people to keep their back alleys clean.”