AN EAST Lancashire borough will drown under a sea of fly-tipped rubbish if a council pushes ahead with plans to ban vans from tips, a councillor has warned.

But the man in charge of regeneration at Blackburn with Darwen Council said that new move was necessary because other authorities had done the same.

It is believed that the amount of rubbish being sent to Blackburn's waste recycling centre could be halved if vans are banned from the two household recycling centres in Blackburn and Darwen.

A report to Blackburn with Darwen Council's executive board said many businesses were using the household facilities instead of the official commercial waste centre in Roman Road because the household centres were free.

Under the new plans, vans will be redirected to Roman Road. Sifting through commercial waste takes more time, and the commercial charge is aimed at covering the cost of sorting business rubbish and the cost of landfill tax imposed as a result of taking the rubbish.

But Coun Paul Browne said: "This is an absolutely ridiculous idea.

"I am totally opposed to it because all we will end up doing is collecting dumped rubbish from the streets. Fly-tipping is already a problem and I think the whole borough will drown in it."

Coun Andy Kay, in charge of regeneration at the council, said: "We will be working with other agencies to try and catch people responsible for flytipping."