Chronic flytipping is turning a city centre neighbourhood into a junkyard with mounds of festering rubbish.

Residents in Garnethill are furious at the level of fly tipping taking place on their streets, and have now urged the council to investigate.

Locals say they are reporting the problem to the local authority numerous time every week and have done their own clean-ups with council staff.

However within hours, mounds of household waste, mattresses, broken toys, clothes and cabinets are back on the streets.

In some cases, whole kitchens, bedroom furniture and bathrooms have been dumped out onto the pavements, attracting vermin and blocking pathways.

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Garnethill community councillor Bill Beckett said: "The problem is so bad it's attracting rats in some cases

"There is currently flooring and mattresses in one street which have been there for four weeks.

"I've also had reports of five other areas which have fresh fly tipping in the last few days. It's constant.

"I have to place calls to cleansing to come along and clean up our lanes and pavements several times a week due to the serious amount of tipping.

"It's a shame as the community council and the council staff do a clean up every month to keep the community clean and tidy yet we have tippers undoing all the hard work. It's sickening.

"Not only is it creating a health hazard but it's blocking pavements meaning elderly people, parents with prams and wheelchair users can't get by.

"The council has been helping us clean up when we have reported it but they need to now fully investigate this to find out who the culprits are.

"It is happening too often."

Councillor Frank McAveety, Leader of Glasgow City Council, has encouraged anyone who sees flytipping to report it to the council so their enforcement staff can investigate.

Enforcement officers are able to service notices on residents if there is evidence of them dumping rubbish, however usually two witnesses are required.

They can also carry out surveillance on areas they know to be hotspots for dumping, and issue fixed penalties of £200 if they catch those responsible.

In extreme cases of major flytipping, offenders can be reported to the Procurator Fiscal and can be fined up to £40,000.

Frank McAveety said: "It is extremely frustrating that, despite all the hard graft being done to clean up the city, some selfish individuals still dump debris on our streets.

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"The Environmental Task Force is continuing to work with the Friends of Garnethill Group and the wider community to tackle issues in the area.

"I’d urge anyone reporting fly-tipping via our Twitter and Facebook channels to give us as much detail as possible to help our Enforcement Officers identify culprits and issue fixed penalties."

Flytipping can be reported directly to the council via social media or via 0141 287 1059, or the helpline set up by the Scottish Flytipping forum on 0845 2 30 40 90.