A MOUND of dumped rubbish led to a road through a village being closed.

The fly-tipped mess, which was discarded on Belthorn Road, Belthorn, on Tuesday evening, left residents unable to access the village, caused buses to stop running, and led to villagers questioning Lancashire County Council’s refusal to re-open waste and recycling centres during the Covid-19 crisis.

Councillor Glenn Harrison, who represents St Oswald Ward for Hyndburn Council, said the fly-tipping was the worst he had seen in his time as a councillor.

He said: “This is not an isolated incident by any means, but it was so bad that Belthorn Road needed to be closed.

“Waste services have been informed but we are now calling, again, for the tips to be re-opened.

“County Councillor Azhar Ali called for this in Pendle and Burnley, as have many other senior people within both parties, and I think it makes utmost sense to open them, as long as we observe to social distancing.

“Fly-tipping is being done on an unprecedented scale at the moment. Luckily I got onto the waste services and they will clear it today.

“I absolutely implore Lancashire County Council to re-open those tips as a matter of urgency.”

Last week, Conservative MP for Hyndburn, Sara Britcliffe, wrote to LCC, urging them to reconsider the closures.

She said: “Lancashire is filled with areas of natural beauty and fly-tipping is causing serious environmental damage, it needs to be challenged.

“There are sixteen waste and recycling centres across the county that have shut, two in my constituency, and the reopening would help combat the ongoing issues.”

Despite this, and other senior councillor’s calls for tips and recycling centres to re-open, LCC have refused.

A spokesperson for LCC said: “Our recycling centres are to remain closed as the national lockdown continues.

“Like the vast majority of councils, we are keeping sites closed in line with new health protection regulations passed at the start of the pandemic which do not include trips to recycling sites within the essential journeys allowed.”

Leader of Lancashire County Council, Cllr Geoff Driver, said: “We closed our recycling centres in line with government advice at the start of the lockdown, and the laws which were passed to help the country deal with the virus make clear that people should stay at home except for specific essential journeys.”

Harvey Danson, area highways manager for Lancashire County Council, said: "Any fly tipping is completely unacceptable, but this incident shows a particular disregard for other people by endangering their safety as well as the local environment.

"As soon this incident was reported to us we attended to make it safe by closing the road, and have been working to clean it up this morning.

"We were able to reopen Belthorn Road at around midday.

"Fly tipping has always been an issue, however it seems that some are taking advantage of the quieter roads at the moment to carry out this criminal activity.

"We will work with district councils to investigate any evidence and pursue prosecutions against fly tippers, and I would ask anyone who has any information about fly tipping to contact us."