A LARGE pile of rubbish dumped at a Helensburgh beauty spot just yards from a recycling centre has outraged residents.

The old radiators were chucked in a corner of the car park at the reservoirs at the top of the town along with boxes into the bushes last week.

Council officers responded quickly to the flytipping just a few hundred yards from the Blackhill Recycling Centre.

Ade Hegney was outraged by the rubbish.

He said: “I went to the duck pond for my usual walk and was greeted with this horrendous sight.

“Flytipped in a place of beauty, a place for us all to enjoy, not to use as a dumping ground. I hope someone, somewhere knows who is responsible and lets the authorities know, as there is no place in our town, or society in general, for this disgraceful behaviour.

“I hope you are feeling regret for your actions, but something tells me you won’t.”

Gill Simpson told the Advertiser she first spotted the rubbish when taking her dog for a walk on the morning of March 3 and reported it to the council.

She said: “Sometimes people don’t realise the consequences of what they’re doing. If you do this, it has to be cleaned up - that money has to come from somewhere. It’s money that could be spent elsewhere.”

Council officials cleared the rubbish and restored the site, which is somewhat secluded from the road by trees and bushes, within a day.

Helensburgh’s MSP, Jackie Baillie, said: “Fly-tipping is a blight on our community and it is really disappointing to see evidence of this happening in Helensburgh.

“I know there have been issues regarding bin collections recently however there is no excuse to dump rubbish in a public area.

“I hope this is an isolated incident and am pleased to hear it was cleared quickly.”

An Argyll and Bute Council spokeswoman said: “We are committed to ensuring public spaces in Argyll and Bute are maintained to a high standard and ask that any fly-tipping is reported to us.

“The fixed penalty notice for fly tipping is £200. If it is not paid, prosecution could result in a fine of up to £40,000.

“We all have to play a part in keeping our communities free of rubbish by using the many waste and recycling facilities we have in Argyll and Bute.

“We would ask anyone who has a concern about fly tipping to let us know by reporting it online at argyll-bute.gov.uk or by calling 01546 605514. We are unable to deal with fly-tipping on private land.”

Flytipping can be reported to the council but also to Zero Waste Scotland to ensure such waste is reflected in statistics at zerowastescotland.org.uk/DumbDumpers.