CLEAN-UP officers say they are making inroads improving a Crewe street dubbed the "worst" in the town for abandoned bins and fly-tipping.

Myrtle Street, off Eldeston Road, has been blighted by bins left blocking alleyways and the main drag. The abandoned bins have become a magnet for fly-tippers looking to dump their waste and run.

Streetscene officer Mark Mountford said: "Myrtle Street was identified as having the most issues. Everyday we patrolled there was fly-tipping going on. Bed frames and carpets were being left out, black bins were ripped open lying in the middle of the street and the bin lids were overflowing - it was an absolute mess."

Elsewhere, Crewe Town Council's Streetscene team have found problems on Nile Street, where often up to 20 bins have been left blocking access for motorists. Nearby Derrington Avenue and Lawton Street, Alban Street, off Broad Street, and Oxford Street in the West End have also been identified as fly-tipping hot spots.

But a meeting of the council's Improvement and Operations Committee were told that there has been steady improvements since the team went to work last year.

It has implemented a yellow card system where residents ignoring requests to remove bins are warned action could be taken against them.

"The plan has been to educate and engage with residents and businesses," said the Streetscene officer. "We knock on doors and if people aren't in then we leave a flyer so they can contact us another time. We have tried to identify where bins are coming from and get people to remove them to their own storage areas.

"We have put advisory notices on abandoned bins and warn if they are not removed by a certain date then we will take them away. Recently we removed 30 bins from hot spots in Crewe, action which has helped stop people fly-tipping."

But wider enforcement against fly-tippers in Crewe is reported to be slow off the mark and the Streetscene officer admitted: "Residents have given up complaining through the channels. They report it to Cheshire East (Council), but say they have not got an outcome or a response."

Properties owned by private landlords, rather than those operating under HMO (House of Multiple Occupation) licences, are being blamed for most of the problems with abandoned bins and fly-tipping.

"A lot of the time things are getting dumped in the alleyways. There are still some rogue landlords out there, but there are also some good ones that we are working with. We need the landlords to be responsible for what their tenants are doing.

"Often they don't have keys to the alley gates so they can't get to the bins and they are putting their rubbish in the street. But if it looks like a dumping ground then people are going to drop things.

"Alban Street has had problems for six years - everything from nappies and food waste have been dumped on the pavements there. In Oxford Street we've had builders' waste and sharps left."