AS a regular walker along the banks of the Leeds/Liver pool Canal in Rishton, between the High Street and Cut Lane bridge, I have noticed over the past few months how much rubbish is floating in the water.

There are many pallets, large canisters, dustbins, buckets and many other items just below and on the surface.

What astonishes me is that British Waterways do not appear to clean up and remove this waste matter.

More than four weeks ago, I saw a dead sheep floating in the water between Norden Bridge and Cut Lane bridge. I reported this to their office in Burnley a few days later.

As nothing was done, I again reported it over two weeks ago, but still the carcass is there. More recently, I walked further along the footpath towards Whitebirk, saw another dead sheep alongside the edge of the canal. Further down there was yet another dead sheep which was badly decomposed.

I am sure that many families and children walking along that bank, feeding the ducks and seeing the new ducklings, do not want to see dead sheep and badly decomposed bodies floating on the water.

It seems that British Waterways do not want to keep the canals free of rubbish. I know that we appear to be a dirty lot dumping things into the water, but these waterways are there for our pleasure as well as the wildlife.

What more can I do to get the British Waterways to come and clear up the mess?

They state that they regularly cruise up and down the canal and collect the rubbish. But I know some of the rubbish has been there for months and I have not seen their cleaning barge on this part of the canal for what must now be well over a year.

MARTIN D SALES, Lord Street, Rishton.

Footnote: British Waterways area manager Mr Terry Horam said: "This is a continual problem, especially at Rishton, and we have two men on a barge carrying out a continuous cleaning operation between Burnley and Blackburn.

"People prefer to throw their rubbish into the canal rather than dispose of it properly. We spend about 20 per cent of our total expenditure budget clearing the stretch between Burnley and Blackburn."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.