PEOPLE who leave piles of bin bags outside their homes face being prosecuted for fly-tipping, a council warned today.

Officers at Ribble Valley Council said they would prosecute people who persistently leave 'excessive' numbers of bags outside their homes for collection by the council's staff.

The move comes after councillors complained during a community committee meeting that some people were leaving out more than six bags every week to be collected.

Liberal Democrat councillor Mary Robinson, told the committee: "There are people who are leaving piles of rubbish outside their houses each week to be collected.

"It looks awful. Action needs to be taken because it is getting ridiculous."

Her call was backed by Coun Alan Yearing, who said: "While we don't want to evoke images of some sort of rubbish police, we do need to make sure people aren't going to extremes.

"For example, we need to stop taking hedging clippings and garden waste.

"We aren't supposed to, but we do at the moment. We have to reduce the amount of waste we take and encourage people to recycle more."

John Heap, director of commercial services, said: "If councillors do know of any houses which are going to extremes, then I would ask for the details to be passed to us. We can write to the people involved asking them to stop, but if they don't, we can prosecute for fly-tipping."

Similar measures have already been deployed in Hyndburn, where some residents dump their rubbish bags outside other people's homes. Officers have now been instructed to trawl through rubbish to find out who it belongs to.

Ribble Valley councillors also approved the new waste strategy at their meeting on Tuesday. It compels local authorities to work hard to reduce the amount of waste going into landfills and promote recycling.