AMMANFORD town councillors have expressed astonishment at the amount of litter they collected during a litter pick in partnership with Ammanford Evangelical Church.

Volunteers managed to fill no fewer than thirty large bags of rubbish from the town’s park, recreational area and riverside walk/cycle path from Pantyffynnon to Betws Bridge.

“It was an eye opener – the amount of dog fouling we came across was ridiculous,” said Cllr Wendy Evans.

“There’s a problem with Japanese knotweed down there as well – I don’t think that path is anywhere near ready for opening.”

Cllr Deian Harries agreed. “We filled eight bags of rubbish over the course of 800 metres,” he said.

“Between Tesco and the river we were there for hours cleaning up.”

Town mayor Irena Hopkins blamed litter from takeaway food outlets for a rise in vermin.

“A national newspaper reported today that they have rats two feet long in England which are immune to poison,” she said.

“Imagine if you came across one of those in the car park?

“I know some people call me ‘The Rat Woman’ but you wouldn’t catch me going anywhere near one of those things.”

Cllr Chris Jones told colleagues matters were not helped when householders missed a refuse collection and bin bags were left outside homes sometimes for days - or even weeks - on end