RESIDENTS living near the site of a disused mill that has been reduced to rubble for the past six years are demanding it is cleared up.

The former Perseverance Mill site, in Albion Street, Padiham, is now just a mountain of bricks and dumped rubbish.

Council bosses said they are ‘working hard’ to get the landowner to clear the site but people living nearby said it is making their lives a misery.

Padiham town councillor Bob Clark, who lives nearby, said: “It is the biggest blight in this community by far.

"Everybody that lives here has to put up with the eyesore and there is nothing they can do about it.”

Albion Street resident Michelle Veitch has been trying to sell her house for two years.

“As soon anyone comes and sees that mess on their doorstep they don’t want to live here,” she said.

Carol Brown, of Wytham Street, said people turn up in vans and just throw black bin bags over the wall.

“The problem has got worse since the tip in Padiham closed,” she said.

Jane Sharman, of Wytham Street, said: “It is disgusting, we have to live with it every day and it brings the area down. We have collected petitions and had meetings about the site but nothing ever seems to get done.”

Residents said that houses next to the demolished mill that were connected to the firm were also a fire hazard, with youths breaking in and starting fires regularly during the summer months.

A Burnley council spokesman said: “The council has been working hard to find a solution to this problem.

"Despite our efforts to work with the owner to get him to clean up the site this hasn’t happened.

“The owner was served with an Abatement Notice in respect of the waste (bin bags, mattresses and sofas) last Friday and a further Notice is to be served today requiring him to substantially reduce the amount of rubble/debris on the site.”

Yesterday the site owner was unavailable for comment.