WARRINGTON Borough Council has spent in the region of £25,000 to clean up fly-tipping and litter in the last three months.

An emergency meeting has been organised to take place at the Town Hall on October 13 to enable officers to thrash out ideas of the best way forward to combat the issues.

Cllr Tony Higgins, chairman of building stronger communities, is set to be joined by officers including executive member for environment and public protection Cllr Judith Guthrie, assistant director for public protection Peter Astley and environmental crime officer Neil Lawson.

The council is determined to bring about a solution and penalise those who are fly-tipping in the town but it admits the difficulties which lie ahead.

A spokesman added: "In the last three months we have spent in the region of £25,000 cleaning up fly-tipping and litter."

Cllr Higgins is getting increasingly frustrated at the extent of the problem and has called for the introduction of a hotline purely for fly-tipping issues.

He also believes inner wards will continue to bear the brunt of the problem until more measures are put in place.

"I called for the meeting with the senior officers because we really need to get this sorted," he said.

"This will give us a chance to put it on the table and discuss what needs to be done – we can't afford to allow the problem to continue as it is currently doing.

"Inner wards like Fairfield and Howley are being affected most but it is vital that all of us in the town pull together to fight against this issue, which is exploding on the streets.

"The problem is terrible and it makes me livid to see waste being dumped on the streets and paths of our wonderful town."

He is also calling on landlords in the borough to ensure they do all they can to help keep Warrington clean.

"Landlords have a big responsibility – they need to do as much as they can to ensure that they have good tenants," he added.

"I want to see them take action where it is needed to make sure people are less likely to commit these acts."

The issue has been blighting the lives of residents and just last week rubbish including three bin bags, a mattress and sofa were dumped close to Orford Lane.

Littering and fly-tipping costs the council more than £600,000 a year but there are fears the figure will rise and inevitably make it harder for the council to deliver crucial services.