BARNOLDSWICK residents, shopkeepers and business owners are claiming that waste collection in the town is rubbish, but Pendle Borough Council says it has invested £250,000 in improvements.

Following a saving of more than £900,000, the authority has bought extra equipment and arranged for additional cleaning rounds.

However, town councillor Jenny Purcell says she will refuse to pay her council taxes if the situation does not improve.

And she claims that the town of 10,000 people needs more than just one full-time street sweeper.

She said: "I suggest they spend a couple of thousand pounds on a machine and keep it in Barlick.

"Parts of the town look a mess and I'm sure it's not like that in front of their offices or homes. They're good at putting rates up and improving things in Nelson, but they want to spend a bit more money over here.

"We get fined for leaving litter lying around so it should be the same for the council.

"They have cleaned up places when we've asked them to, like on Skipton Road, but they need to be consistent and get everywhere sorted out."

Coun Maureen Davies added: "As I walked into town along Gisburn Road the bins were overflowing. It was a mess. I also think people need to re-educate their children because there was a lot of litter dropped on the streets."

And Ivan Fielding, the owner of Ivan's Pet Shop, agreed. He said: "The council subsidise us to sell poop scoops and bags and they provide the bins, but nobody empties them so there were bags of dog mess piled up around the bins this morning."

However, a woman living close to the shops on Gisburn Road, who did not wish to be named, said there was only so much the council could do.

She said: "It's not the shopkeepers' fault either - the kids just chuck stuff over my wall. Yesterday morning I came out and there were beer cans, takeaway cartons and all sorts in my garden. Extra bins wouldn't do any good because they wouldn't bother to use them."

Pendle Council's environmental projects manager, Bryan Thompson, said businesses had a duty to keep their land and the area around it free from litter. He also pointed out that a resident of Barnoldswick's Coates estate had called the department earlier in the week to thank the team for cleaning up her street.

He added: "I passed through the area recently and I found it to be nice and clean, but we will be addressing some of the concerns from April this year when we will have dedicated crews going round to clean up the day after refuse collectors."

Pendle Council purchased three new motorised road sweepers through money saved in other areas of its budget and plans to spend another £1 million in improvements to the service over the next five years.

Coun John David said: "We're putting this extra investment into street cleaning to help us continue to meet this challenge, because we know that clean streets really matter to Pendle people."