BURNLEY residents might have to pay an extra £10 if they want bulky waste taken away from their homes.

Burnley Council wants to charge the fee as part of a savings drive.

But today a leading councillor warned the move would lead to an increase in fly-tipping in the borough.

Residents could be asked to pay for the removal of large items such as fridges that can't be put into the normal refuse collection.

Councillor Peter Kenyon said that the move was part of the authority's savings scheme but warned it could lead to more fly-tipping.

The Queensgate ward councillor said: "It will be controversial and the concern is that it could increase the amount of fly-tipping in the area.

"We will have to put more resources into dealing with the problem of fly-tipping and look to other boroughs to see how they have been affected by such schemes because a lot of other areas charge for this service.

"The number of such collections is increasing rapidly though so it is only right that some sort of charge is levied to set against the council's costs."

The revenue raised from providing this service would help fund a new recycling officer, an enforcement officer and another in the street scene department to deal with problems such as litter and graffitti.

The proposal is to be discussed at the budget meeting on February 22.