A FED-UP Rossendale man who complained to his council about uncollected rubbish took his concerns to the heart of the community by dumping waste on the doorstep of the town hall.

Charles Payne claimed he was doing the council "a favour" when he emptied two black bags of rubbish outside Rawtenstall Town Hall.

The 51-year-old became so exasperated by what he claimed was lack of action by the authority to deal with litter around his home, in Piccadilly Street, Haslingden, that yesterday he held a peaceful protest.

Mr Payne, a self-employed builder, said he first contacted the council last January, but claimed the authority had not done anything about his concerns.

He added when the council failed to respond to a Freedom of Information request into how the area was cleaned, he decided to clean it for them and bring the council the rubbish.

He said: "The stuff is there anyway, I'm just moving it from one place to another. If you a kick a piece of litter in the street are you littering? In fact, I think I am doing them a favour by bringing it to them."

Mr Payne said several councillors including leader, Coun Duncan Ruddick, were informed of his concerns.

He claimed the rubbish was collected from a 100 yard area around his home, which included a park with a children's play area covered with broken glass.

Within 10 minutes of dumping the rubbish, the authority's environmental services department arrived to clean it up, and Mr Payne was invited into the town hall to discuss his issues.

The council refused to answer questions, but issued the following statement: "We take fly-tipping and rubbish issues very seriously and have introduced a number of new initiatives across the borough to address these issues.

"It is not appropriate to comment on Mr Payne's specific complaint today as we will need to carry out a full investigation. We will issue a full statement as soon as our investigation is complete."