MESSY STREETS in Rossendale will be given a spring clean with the introduction of a crack team of neighbourhood officers.

The dedicated teams - to be assigned to each area of the borough - will tackle everything from fly-posting to litter-dropping; dog fouling to messy gardens.

They are due to start work in the next few months and are the brainchild of new council boss Carole Todd, brought in eight weeks ago to clean up the borough's streets.

At a Bacup Area Forum meeting the new head of "street scene and liveability" told residents they would at last have a familiar face to listen to their complaints. She told the 25-strong audience at Thorn County Primary School, Cowtoot Lane, services would improve under her leadership.

She said: "I have been employed by the council to pull together all the front line services they offer. I know they haven't done it brilliantly in the past but hopefully we will in the future.

sIf people have a problem with something, such as their bins, they will be able to ring people who they know and who are based near the neighbourhood - they won't be talking to someone in Rawtenstall when their problem is in Bacup.

"Part of what I will be expecting neighbourhood teams to do is to patrol the area. If they see fly posting or rubbish dumped they will shift it there and then."

A warning was issued to private landowners who refuse to keep their land in order - clean up or face prosecution.