Fly-tipping on one of Swindon's most popular walking routes has been labelled "disgusting".

Ice cream freezers and other bulky shop items have been dumped in hedgerows on the Ridgeway this week.

Ward councillor for Ridgeway Gary Sumner was sent pictures of the waste on Swindon’s National Trail and has reported it to Swindon Borough Council.

He said: “It's just disgusting that somebody's obviously clearing out a shop, possibly paid somebody to remove the rubbish, and it’s ended up in beautiful countryside in the summer holidays.”

“A lot of people will be coming down to the area, walking the Ridgeway, and it's not a good advert for our town.”

Cllr Sumner, the Conservative group leader on the council, reported the dumped shop fittings and packaging to the environmental cleansing team.

He added: “It's just such a shame that people find it easy to just empty a van onto the verges and drive off.”

Cllr Sumner said it is a common spot for fly-tipping, along with a location between Upper Warnborough and Liddington.

Swindon Borough Council's website advises: “Fly-tipping is not only a criminal offence, it is a blight on our environment and a hazard to local wildlife.

"Fly-tipping is also extremely costly to tidy up. On average per annum we spend over £200k both collecting and enforcing fly-tipping, diverting much-needed funds away from other priority areas.”

It advises people to report offences through their website, as well as only hiring licensed waste carriers to dispose of items responsibly.

This year data showed that only a few of the hundreds of perpetrators of fly-tipping were caught and fined by the council.

It was reported by the Adver in February that in 2022/23, there were 1,930 reported incidents, and action was taken to tackle 247 of them. 

17 of these resulted in fines being given to people or companies responsible for the mess. This amounts to 0.1 per cent of fly-tippers being penalised.

A Swindon Borough Council spokesman said at the time: “We respond to all incidents of fly-tipping that are reported to us and try to clear it up as quickly as we can.

“We have seen a reduction in the number of fixed penalty notices we have issued recently, which is due to a current shortage of staff in our enforcement team.

“We are aiming to step up our enforcement activity in due course.

“People can report fly-tipping incidents via: www.swindon.gov.uk/flytipping”