Travellers and fly-tippers have been making a mess of an unopened multi-million pound road under the M4 in Swindon.

Wichel Way has been finished for more than a year but is yet to have any traffic pass along the route between Wichelstowe and Wroughton.

In the meantime, some have found alternative uses for the empty award-shortlisted Southern Access Road.

Recently, Stuart Slee has seen travellers set up camp on the spot and then leave piles of rubbish and scorch marks on the road surface after they moved on.

The concerned resident also claims that around half a dozen tipper truck loads of waste have been dumped on the highway.

After unsuccessfully attempting to report this mess to the local authority via its online form, he contacted the Adver instead.  

He said: "To see such a wonderful piece of construction work not being used and then being abused and trashed by society's worst, makes it very hard to just turn a blind eye.

"I have become quite shocked and frustrated with the level of fly-tipping that I am seeing, and I am keen to make people aware of what is happening in our neighbourhood.

"As I have walked my dogs along the lit path quite regularly over the last 12 months, I know this road has been clear of debris, other than the graffiti on the walls of the underpass.

"It is only in the last few days, it appears to have been earmarked as a new dumping ground which is hidden in plain sight. 

"If nothing is done by the time this road is one day ready for use, I believe it will be choked with hundreds of tons of waste and debris from more and more fly-tippers as the word gets around there is another soft target."

Small-scale fly-tipping offences are dealt with via £400 fixed penalty notices while those caught dumping larger amounts of waste could receive higher fines and be criminally prosecuted.

A Swindon Borough Council spokesperson said: “We were aware of a group of travellers that were at Wichel Way on Wednesday, May 22, but the group was swiftly moved on by Wiltshire Police.

“We’ve received no reports of fly-tipping at the road recently but we did remove waste from the area last year.

“If anyone sees any incidents of fly-tipping, please report it on our website www.swindon.gov.uk so we can clear it up as soon as possible.”