RESIDENTS have shared their frustration as large amounts of rubbish have been littered in locations across Leigh.
Fly-tipping has been a common concern for people in recent years, with particular hotspots being used to dump rubbish, furniture, and household items.
Councillors are aware of the problem, with Dane Anderton, Chair of the Leigh Labour Party, describing it as one of the "hyper-local issues" that residents want to see stamped out across Wigan borough.
Over the weekend, bags of children's toys and household furniture were found strewn across Lodge Lane, at the side of Leigh Cemetry.
On social media, residents described the fly-tipping as "disgraceful" and a blight on the area.
Similar instances have also been reported on Orchard Lane, Glebe Street, Milton Street, and around Pennington Flash in recent months.
This has also been the case in areas in Atherton, Tyldesley, and Crankwood.
When made aware, Wigan Council has to divert resources to clean the mess left behind by fly tippers.
It is a criminal offence and those responsible can be prosecuted, with punishments including imprisonment, unlimited fines, or an order to deprive rights to the vehicle used to commit the offence.
Paul Barton, Wigan Council’s director of environment, said: “Fly-tipping is a criminal offence, blights our environment and is expensive to clean up. By disposing of waste responsibly and by recycling waste correctly it helps us to keep our council tax low.
“Our team [has been] working on a prevention strategy that will help us to proactively reduce incidents across the borough. Examples of this include checking waste removers have the correct paperwork and licences to crack down on illegal tipping by businesses offering this service.
"We have also found that some residents are leaving additional waste at the time of collection – this is classed as fly tips so we’ll be further educating residents about bin collections."
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