Anti-social Helston neighbours who leave bin bags in the street and rubbish scattered to the wind are about to get a rude awakening, as the town council looks at ways of cracking down on an “increasing problem.”

Councillors will discuss what can be done to stop a rise in dirty streets and what the mayor called the “on street fly-tipping” of uncovered bin bags, caused by people putting out rubbish on the wrong days. These are then ripped open by seagulls, scattering rubbish around.

This has caused anger at the town council, with plans afoot to fine more people, and even look at prosecuting people for fly-tipping if there are more than two bin bags.

Helston’s mayor, Jonathan Radford Gaby said that the matter will be discussed at this Thursday’s full town council meeting, adding that it was hugely disappointing that even a campaign by a six-year-old school girl to shame the “dirty, horrid” litterbugs had not made people change their ways.

This refers to Amelia Hawke-Treneer’s letter to Mr Radford-Gaby asking him to “get more people to pick up litter”, after Amelia and her granddad returned home from a walk with one whole bag of litter and one bag of recycling, just from Clodgey Way lay-by.

Despite hoping that this would “shame dirty, thoughtless and anti-social individuals that drop litter in this town”, Mr Radford Gaby says that the problem is as bad as ever.

He said: “Last full council I read out a letter from a six-year-old girl, but unfortunately this has not hit home amongst some of the town’s residents. People are still discarding litter and increasingly a big issue is the fly tipping of rubbish bags. It is a problem that Helston is really suffering from.

“Gulls split these open. It is anti-social and irresponsible and it is something that we are just not going to tolerate any longer.”

The town warden can give fixed penalty notices out for littering. However, the council may decide to take enforcement one step further.

Mr Radford Gaby said that while the council has tried to do this “the easy way with the co-operation with everyone” the time had come to try and stamp it out.

Although most people are fine, putting out their rubbish on the right days and covering it with a blanket or putting it in a bin, there are still those who do not.

“It will only take one or two to be prosecuted for fly tipping before it gets around that this is unacceptable in this town,” he added.