A NEW initiative to shame fly-tippers by cordoning off their waste as an "environmental crime scene" has been launched by a council.

Blue bin bags full of disused carpet, bricks and other building materials were found in an alley at the back of a house in Harrison Street in Barrow this morning.

The culprits were issued with a section 46 order under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which means that they must remove the rubbish or risk a £75 fine.

However, Barrow Borough Council made a bold statement by designating the rubbish as an environmental crime scene in a bid to crack down on fly-tipping in what is a problematic area for rubbish.

Barrow councillor Ann Thomson, who is the council's spokeswoman for the environment, said: "It is a mess and if food were in the bags it would be everywhere now because the seagulls would have got to it.

"Too many people are not taking responsibility for their rubbish and if kids come up this alley and find the bricks they could start throwing them everywhere - it's not acceptable.

"We hope that this initiative will get the message across because people will start getting fined more for not disposing of their waste accordingly. If they don't, we are legally entitled to take steps to make our streets cleaner.

"We don't want to be doing this but hopefully by embarrassing them we will get that important message across."

The rows of terraced housing in central Barrow have been designated as waste hotspots by the council who are attempting to "blitz" the streets of rubbish once and for all.

Dave Moore, who works as a street cleaner for the council, hopes that this new scheme will help to deter people from littering the streets.

He said: "It has been a long time coming and I think this is a great idea. It is pretty bad around here and I have seen it when bins are overflowing.

"Unfortunately I think that a lot of people just don't care. It is craziness and I think a lot of these houses are let out to tenants who just don't care about them."