Anger as bags of rubbish dumped in Rochdale Town Centre

Rubbish dumped around the bin near The Walk

Bags of rubbish have been dumped around a bin at the top of The Walk on Boxing Day.

The rubbish is understood to have been tipped after 3pm.

Passer-by Donna Hames said: “I didn’t notice it when I went out at 3.00pm, but it was there when I was walking home at 10.20pm.

“It’s disgusting. It’s absolutely disgraceful and we wonder why there are so many rats in the town centre when we have rubbish dumped like this.

“If those responsible for dumping it have the means for transport, why couldn’t they use that to take it to the tip instead of the town centre?”

Local resident Jennifer Holt said: “If it’s still there on Thursday, I’ll get my rubber gloves on, black bags in hand and take it to the tip myself. I’ll be there at 11am if anyone wants to help?”

When asked why she was prepared to clear the mess that someone else had dumped, she said: “I'm fed up of the lethargy that this town is full of. We live in a lovely town and if we all started taking some pride, we'd be on the map for the right reasons.”

Leader of the Council, Councillor Richard Farnell said: "The rubbish dumped at this (and other) sites was removed at 2pm Tuesday (27 December) by Town Centre Management. It appears to be a mixture of domestic and commercial waste illegally dumped on the town's main shopping street.

"Two addresses were retrieved from the waste and CCTV footage is being examined, which will hopefully provide evidence to prosecute the offenders.

"Clearing illegal fly-tipping costs the Council over £1M a year."