A council is appealing for help identifying the owner of land used as a dumping ground by fly-tippers to come forward.

The plea came as more and more rubbish was discarded at the location in Blackburn, attracting vermin to the area.

An alleyway in front of a row of garages behind Whalley Old Road in Little Harwood is littered with mountains of rubbish.

As well as rubbish bags, old fridges and broken wooden cabinets, a whole set of sofas has been dumped at the spot.

The land is accessible through Welbeck Avenue and residents whose homes back onto the area have spoken out over the eyesore and said nobody was taking responsibility for the clean-up.

A resident who lives nearby and asked not to be named said: “It has become worse with more rubbish since we last raised the issue.

"There are rats as big as cats roaming the area.”

Blackburn with Darwen Council said a legal notice had been served and urged anyone with further information to come forward.

Residents said the land used to be used by children and hosted barbeques in the summerStrategic director for environment and operations, Martin Eden, said: “We sympathise with the residents however according to the Land Registry, the land in question is unregistered.

“A legal notice has already been served on the land; however, we have not yet received any communication from the owner or anyone else who may have knowledge as to who owns it.

“According to the Land Registry, the garages in this alleyway are also unregistered.

"In that case, if residents can supply us with the names and addresses of the garage owners, we can then continue our investigations.

“If waste is continually being deposited on the land, residents are welcome to supply us with details of this including vehicle registrations of the perpetrators. We can then look into issuing enforcement action.

“Residents can supply information to us at envirocrime@blackburn.gov.uk.”

In July residents said people were coming from outside the area to dump rubbish at the location.

One resident said: “It has been going on for months now. I can’t even have a barbecue or look out my window. It is horrible. It is pure toxic waste and rat-infested.

“We used to have children playing here and also held community barbecues and events. Nobody wants to come out of their homes anymore.”