I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with Mr J Livesey (Letters, February 1) that the backstreet area of Accrington Road area of Blackburn is an utter disgrace.

On several occasions, I have telephoned the town hall to request the removal of rubbish dumped there. But since more is dumped almost as soon as the area is cleaned, one comes to the conclusion that to be public-spirited is a waste of time.

Unfortunately, a small number of our neighbours appear to be ignorant of the fact (or purposely choose to be so), that the refuse collectors will not remove any rubbish which is not placed inside a wheelie bin.

Neither will they remove larger articles such as television sets, fridges, mattresses, shop fittings, and building rubble, all of which I have seen dumped there in recent months. These people appear blind to the fact that their cardboard boxes and plastic bags full of rubbish are left to rot for weeks on end.

It is all too easy to blame the council for this state of affairs, but they are no doubt working within limited budgets, which preclude weekly inspections of such areas. However, if the people disposing of the rubbish had concern for anyone but themselves, the situation would remain much more tolerable. What I find particularly annoying is the fact that it only takes a phone call and the council will arrange to collect and remove any domestic rubbish free of charge, and yet certain people would rather just throw it out of their back doors.

I recently saw, in broad daylight, a large brown rat rummaging among the remains of several large black bags of rubbish which have been lying in the back alley for a number of weeks.

So Mr or Mrs rubbish leaver, I can say conclusively, such a cavalier attitude towards rubbish disposal not only could attract vermin, but definitely has done so.

Perhaps the council could arrange for a leafleting exercise, giving plain and simple advice on how such rubbish can be properly got rid of - preferably written in all the ethnic languages as well as in English, so that no part of our community would have any excuses for not being informed.

M VALENTINE (Mr), Accrington Road, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.