ACTION has been promised to stop rubbish spoiling one of the town’s most historic landmarks.

Fly-tippers are blighting the Railway Village by dumping rubbish ranging from mattresses to ironing boards, despite the Household Waste Recycling Centre, at Cheney Manor industrial estate, being less than two miles away.

Swindon Council’s enforcement officers have called on residents to help them catch the fly-tippers, who have left bags of rubbish, furniture and bits of wood in many of the area’s streets.

The council will be writing to every resident next week to ask them to report any incidents and CCTV is set to be deployed in a bid to catch offenders.

Coun Keith Williams, cabinet member for Streetscene, said: “The council has to clear fly-tipped waste each week due to the sheer laziness and selfishness of a few thoughtless individuals.

“I’m sure council tax payers will find this totally unacceptable and I would urge residents to be vigilant and report any problems to us straight away so we can catch those responsible.”

Jean and Jim Makin, of Exeter Street, have lived in the Railway Village for more than 30 years and say that they have seen a big change in the amount of rubbish in the area.

“There is far too much rubbish around here,” said Jim, who is 85.

“The alleyways out the back are full of boxes and kitchen cabinets and things like that. It’s terrible – we never used to have any problems with it but then the community has changed a lot.

“It is such an historic area and we get visitors from places like America – it’s not a great image to portray.

“Something definitely needs to be done to address the problem.”

Ward councillor Bob Wright (Lab, Central) said: “What we are seeing is a national problem.

“People are using alleyways and places to dump their rubbish instead of going to the tip.

“We report it and the officers come out.

“What is upsetting people is that if it gets cleared people think ‘oh, it’s OK to dump there’ and if it’s left then they think the same.

“Previous attempts led to a very low number of people being reprimanded and we are looking to expand CCTV coverage in the area.

“If you want things to improve you have to do something.”

Anybody wishing to report incidents of fly-tipping can do so by calling 01793 445501.