FLY-TIP hotspots are being targeted by litter bugs just days after being cleaned up by council workers as part of a multi-million pound campaign.

Councillors claimed their own investigations of streets, alleys and wastelands blitzed by Blackburn with Darwen Council's Thrash the Trash campaign over the last 18 months showed they soon became as bad as they were before.

They claimed more work needed to be done educating people, and more evidence shown that people were being prosecuted when caught dumping waste.

Coun Maureen McGarvey, a member of the council's sustainable neighbourhoods overview and scrutiny committee, told the meeting: "Millions of pounds will have been wasted if we end up in a situation where people just dump on land again days after it has been cleaned up.

"We looked at areas in Whalley Range, Mill Hill, Little Harwood, Infirmary, Bastwell and Audley and the message doesn't seem to be getting through."

Around £1million is being put aside for Thrash the Trash every year to bolster the council's cleaning operations.

Peter Hunt, director of direct services at the council, said: "I think there has been an improvement and the streets, in the main, are cleaner, and people more aware of what is going on.

"Looking at the evidence we have seen, much of the dumped rubbish appears to be relatively new.

"We are prosecuting people and we will make sure people are aware."

Both he and Coun Mohammed Khan, the executive member of housing and neighbourhood services, praised the Lancashire Evening Telegraph for supporting Thrash the Trash.

And they pointed to several new initiatives, including regular litter picking and new powers to issue on-the-spot fines to litter louts, as ways the council was continuing to tackle rubbish from new areas.

Coun Faryad Hussain said: "I think it is important every avenue is explored. Maybe approaching the mosques is a way of doing that."