TALKS are to be held between council bosses and British Waterways in a bid to find a way of stopping people dumping rubbish in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

Cookers, microwaves, televisions and rubbish pallets have all been seen dumped in the water in one blackspot around Rishton in recent weeks, prompting a furious reaction from local Councillor Anne Scaife.

British Waterways, which runs the canal network in the UK, now hopes to meet with the council to discuss ways of making the canal more secure by removing many of the isolated access points when the dumping is taking place.

Coun Scaife, who holds the environment portfolio at Hyndburn Council, said: "It is absolutely disgraceful that people think the canal is just some sort of dumping ground.

"It is a wonderful thing to have running through the town and is well used by people for recreational purposes.

"But it is being spoiled by people who are just dumping anything there. I've seen cookers, microwaves, televisions and rubbish pallets there recently."

A spokesman for British Waterways said: "We are talking to the council about solution to this. It isn't British Waterways which dumps the rubbish there, but we do need to sort it out.

"What we want to do is work with the council and other landowners with property which backs on to the canal to make sure that as much of the canal as possible is secure.

"People who dump rubbish often need a vehicle to get it to the canal and tend to try and do it away from where they could be seen.

"We have a three man boat which goes up and down the canal from Barrowford and Blackburn for 33 weeks of the year picking up rubbish and dredging the canal.

"It is possible a backlog has built up in the last week because our team has been working at the scene of a pollution spill near Burnley where they have pulled out a tonne of fish."

Coun Scaife last week had a new bylaw passed making it an offence for people to let dogs foul the towpath.