Mountains of rubbish were set alight close to a row of houses in Blackburn on Thursday night.

Fire crews were called to tackle the fire yesterday evening in an alleyway behind Whalley Old Road in Little Harwood.

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

The fire was adjacent to some garages and could be seen across the neighbourhood.

The land is accessible through Welbeck Avenue and residents whose homes back onto the area have spoken out over the eyesore.

One resident who lives in the area: “We have raised this issue a number of times and this was bound to happen sooner or later.

“This could have spread fire to the entire street. Anything could have happened.”

Tiger Patel was at the site earlier this week as a council team had assessed the siteEarlier this week, Little Harwood and Whitebirk Councillor Tiger Patel visited the site and council teams had been accessing the fly-tip.

He said on Monday: “I would urge everyone not to put a fire here as this is a resident’s area.

“I spoke to the council worker who mentioned it is private land.”

Speaking today, he said: “This is the resident’s area and the fly-tipping has been going for a while.

“I think an alley gate here would solve the problem so people would not have access. I know other streets could do with an alley gate.”

The mountains of rubbish were first reported in the Lancashire Telegraph in July and last month Blackburn with Darwen Council appealed for information to find the owner of the land.

The council said a legal notice had been served and urged anyone with further information to come forward.

The council said it sympathised with the residents however according to the Land Registry, the land in question is 'unregistered'.

A spokesperson said in October: “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.”