RESIDENTS have been kept under surveillance by a council trying to find out who is to blame for blocking pathways with large piles of refuse bags. In last week s Comet, Sandra Battye, a resident in The Paddocks, Stevenage, claimed the borough council s

RESIDENTS have been kept "under surveillance" by a council trying to find out who is to blame for blocking pathways with large piles of refuse bags.

In last week's Comet, Sandra Battye, a resident in The Paddocks, Stevenage, claimed the borough council's dustmen were stacking up the bags on the paths at 9.30am and not returning until over two hours later to collect them.

Ms Battye, 31, said they were putting the safety of wheelchair users and parents with pushchairs at risk by forcing them onto the roads.

But now the council has hit back by claiming it has been keeping residents under scrutiny for a fortnight to find out exactly who is responsible.

It has even gone as far as having its workers sneaking around in the early hours of the morning to take photographs of piles of black bags which they say have been dumped by residents.

A council spokesman said: "We have had this area under surveillance for the last two weeks to establish the cause and scale of the problem.

"It was found that these large piles of refuse were in fact created by some residents and partially blocking the footpath before the collection crew's arrival."

Residents are asked to be considerate to others by making sure their rubbish does not obstruct footpaths and that it is properly contained.

The spokesman said: "Although collectors do add to these piles prior to

removal, they are under instructions not to block the footpaths and not to leave any piles that they create for more than an hour."

Asked if they had any pictures of residents dumping the bags the spokesman said no, but the pictures they did have were taken an hour before the dustmen arrived and therefore pointed to the residents as being responsible.

One resident who lives close to The Paddocks but does not want to be identified said the council was being sneaky.

She said: "I think they are really stooping as low as possible. It's a waste of our council tax getting workers to do this. If they want to hire private detectives then hire them.

"If they've got a problem with residents then they should make it quite clear without resorting to this.