A RUBBISH-STREWN ginnel branded ‘a disgrace’ by angry residents whose homes back on to it has been cleaned up following complaints.

The area behind St Germain Street, in Farnworth, has long been a magnet for fly-tippers and had become littered with tyres, bin bags and trolleys among other items.

But as it is unadopted Bolton Council is not technically responsible for its upkeep and maintenance.

However, due to furious complaints from neighbours, ward councillor Jean Gillies arranged for the Community Payback Team to clear the area of rubbish.

A skip was also taken to the area for residents to dispose of any unwanted items they had.

Cllr Gillies said the team tasked with the clean up up had done a ‘grand job’.

She said: “If it is unadopted land we don’t have any jurisdiction to clean it up.

“However, I had been down there, and if we didn’t do something it was going to be rat-infested, and that’s not fair on the people that live there.”

And Cllr Gillies also warned residents to be particularly careful if they ever use a third party to dispose rubbish on their behalf, due to the possibility of penalties.

She said: “It was hard to get it done, but I need to make it absolutely clear to people that the ruling is, if rubbish gets dumped and identified to somebody, they are the ones that get fined.

“If people are hiring people to get rubbish they need to ensure that they’ve got the proper licence, because otherwise they are at risk of being fined, not the person that dumped it.

“If it gets traced back to any individual, they will be the one that gets fined. They need to check with whoever they are hiring to remove rubbish that they are licensed.”

She continued: “It’s educating people, you can’ t just have a man with a van because they will just dump it.

Resident Karen Bebbington, who had for a community clean-up said she was happy with the action taken.

She said: “In the short term it deals with the problem.

“But I feel like that as a whole they must be paying more to get rid of fly-tipping rather than cleaning those places or putting in bigger bins. People just tip it there because they can.”