SECONDARY school students have been pinpointed as Rossendale's worst litter louts.

Streets round five schools - Whitworth High, Fearns, Alder Grange, Haslingden High and Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School - are awash with discarded sweet and crisp packets, say local residents.

They complain that students walking to and from school and between the schools and the nearest sweet shops are leaving a daily paper trail.

Now Rossendale Council is trying to curb the problem by surrounding the schools with a circle of litter bins.

Plans due to be approved by councillors today suggest streets within a 400-metre radius of a secondary school should have a litter bin every 150 metres.

The same density of litter bins is also being proposed for town centres and district shopping centres in a bid to keep litter off the valley's streets.

A report to the council's engineering and planning committee outlines the scale of the problem in town centres where vandalism has drastically cut the number of litter bins needed.

In Bacup there are only 15 bins rather than the 40 needed if the town centre is to be kept clean.

In Haslingden there are 28 instead of 39, Rawtenstall 40 instead of 58 and Waterfoot 28 instead of 46.

Council policy is for streets in two centres and district shopping centres to be given an early morning sweep every day.

But the report points out that for this to be effective towns need enough litter bins to keep waste off the streets during the working day.

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