Volunteer group warns of worsening litter crisis

Toni Preston is one of the Spalding Wombles in Spalding who is regularly out picking up litter in the town

A group of volunteer litter pickers claims littering and fly-tipping in a Lincolnshire town is getting worse.

The Wombles of Spalding Common regularly clear up to 25 bags of rubbish a day only to see more appear within hours.

The group claimed the local council was not in control of the "deteriorating situation".

South Holland District Council said it was carrying out more enforcement and wanted to work with the Wombles who it described as "local heroes".

The Wombles say Spalding is being blighted by litter

The Wombles said part of the problem was people putting out their rubbish days before it was due to be collected.

Peter Bird, a Womble, said: "It's basically the houses of multiple occupation, the flats, and people don't want the rubbish in their houses so they put it out days before it will be collected. Sometimes they put out bags daily.

"There's vermin around here, some very big rats, as the bags get ripped."

The Wombles said they regularly comes across human faeces, needles and even knives, sometimes in the bags and sometimes just dumped by the side of pavements and patches of grass.

A dumped sofa alongside litter and graffiti in Spalding

Toni Preston said the problems were "terrible" and "getting worse"

Volunteer Toni Preston said: "One of our Wombles cleared a road of rubbish and on her way back it needed doing again and she said she's not doing it any more, she's so despondent," she said.

"If you have pride in where you live, you wouldn't do this."

Another Womble, Tanya Chandler, said: "I feel very upset by what I see on a daily basis because we're out every day trying to make things better and there's a handful of people who just don't care."

All three Wombles said South Holland District Council was failing to tackle the problem.

Mr Bird said: "People just get away with it so there's no mentality for people not to do it because the rules aren't enforced. We need more enforcement and boots on the ground."

Councillor Gary Taylor says he wants to work with the volunteers

South Holland District Council is the only authority in Lincolnshire not to have wheelie bins for residents, using plastic bags instead.

It is consulting on whether to introduce wheelie bins.

Councillor Gary Taylor, cabinet member for communities, said: "It's very frustrating when a minority doesn't play by the rules".

"More needs to be done, yes, but more fines are being issued and we need to work together as a partnership with the Wombles, the police and local businesses," he said.

"The Wombles are local heroes and we want to talk to them about how we tackle this."

Follow BBC Lincolnshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]