A LITTER picker in Blackburn has spoken of her anger after discovering a mound of ‘dangerous’ rubbish near a children’s centre.

Tanya Kennedy, a member of the Keep Blackburn Tidy Facebook group, was outraged on Thursday after seeing broken toilets, broken beds, a fridge, empty gas bottles and even an inflatable hot tub on a footpath in Holmbrook Close and Fishmoor Drive.

The childminder said: “It is horrible and so dangerous because there are glass bottles there.

“This is a public footpath and I could not believe it when I saw it.

“There is an after-school club next to it, along with Fishmoor Football Club.

“It looks like someone has emptied a house and just not wanted to pay to take it to the tip.

“I am part of Keep Blackburn Tidy and last year we collected 9,000 bags of litter in the area. We are a growing voluntary group.

“I pick litter with the children I mind and I am trying to instil in them to keep the place tidy and not drop litter because we have to deal with this.

“We are prepared to keep on tidying the area as we don’t want to leave litter but this is so disheartening.”

Among the items fly-tipped were mattresses, teddy bears, black bin bags of rubbish and drinks bottles and cans.

Ms Kennedy added: “We are always going to continue to fight against rubbish being dropped and we did a group pick in the Bromley Road area and collected 136 bags.

“The group has more than 1,000 members and is growing all the time.”

Council chiefs are carrying out an initial investigation before they clear the rubbish. They will then work to identify those responsible for dumping it.

Cllr Jim Smith, who holds the environment portfolio at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: “It is absolutely disgusting that people would throw these household contents on the street.

“What kind of people are they?

“They just don’t care or worry about anyone else apart from themselves.”

Cllr Smith added: “The Keep Blackburn Tidy group are marvellous and the amount of volunteers who try to keep the area tidy is fantastic. They are proud citizens.”

For more information about the litter picking group search 'Keep Blackburn Tidy' on Facebook.