LITTER bins installed in a bid to tidy up a run-down Preston area are being used by yobs - to litter the streets even more.

New bins were strategically placed throughout Deepdale after Preston Borough Council secured Single Regeneration Budget funding to transform the area.

It was hoped the bins would help solve Deepdale's chronic litter problem, which has been the reason behind many sleepless nights for local councillor Terry Cartwright, a Deepdale ward councillor.

He said: "I was really pleased when they were installed because the one thing people mention to me time and time again is the state of the streets because of litter. I thought the litter louts would use them." Coun Cartwright was right - the louts have started using them . . . to litter the disused Longridge railway track which cuts through the heart of Deepdale.

Vandals have uprooted some the bins from their locations on the side of Deepdale's main thoroughfares and strewn them on the railway tracks, which haven't seen any passing vehicles for quite a few years.

Coun Cartwright added: "I couldn't believe it had happened. On one hand we are trying to improve the area for the benefit of people, but then it is ruined just as we are getting started.

"However, what concerns me more is that we, as a council, are paying money for things to be installed and then not making sure they remain in good nick.

"Somebody half-inched this bin a week ago, and the council has yet to move it.

"What is the point in spending this money if we don't follow it up?

"Surely the bin should have been due to be emptied by now."

A council spokesman said: "We were unaware of the problem until now.

"An inspector has been deployed to deal with the problem."

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