OLD sofas, a dishwasher, broken computer parts and bags of loft insulation have been dumped on a rubbish-strewn Carnforth lane, to the dismay of townsfolk and councillors.

Parts of Tipping Lane, which leads up to Carnforth Rangers Football Club, are now "measurably inches deep" in rubbish, Carnforth Town Council heard.

Town clerk Philip Charnley told the Gazette that he had photographed the extent of the fly-tipping to help councillors discuss the long-standing problem at their recent meeting.

He described his concern at seeing children aged ten or 12 at play in the lane, clambering among rubbish and discarded furniture. "I thought, that's not good," said Mr Charnley. "When there's rubbish, you can have sharp-edged things like glass, you could have vermin living in it, and old furniture could have rusty springs sticking out of it."

The town clerk spotted a couple of sofas, a chair, quantities of builders' rubble, plastic bags of what looked like loft cladding, old circuit boards, a smashed-up computer and even a dishwasher, during his visit to Tipping Lane.

"It must be pretty awful for people to go to watch or play football up there," he said, adding that Carnforth Rangers FC, councillors and townsfolk were very concerned about the problem.

"It looks like somebody has gone with a van or a pick-up at night when nobody's about. We are not suggesting it's somebody who lives locally to the area because, after all, why would you put it on your doorstep?"

The land is privately owned, and Carnforth Town Council has made repeated attempts to contact the owner's agents, without success, said Mr Charnley.

The council has now asked Lancaster City Council to consider clearing the rubbish and charging the landowner.