HAMPSHIRE residents are in uproar after a huge mound of rubbish was dumped in on a Hampshire beauty spot.

The heap of building materials, plastic, cardboard and cables lies on a woodland path behind the Chilworth Arms, in Chilworth on the outskirts of Southampton.

The giant mound of waste has been left laying for since at least Saturday because it is so big council chiefs need to bring in specialist equipment to clear it up.

Chilworth resident Lisa Gigante stumbled upon the pile on Saturday morning when walking her dogs.

Lisa said: "People are creating this mess with no care in the world for the local habitat and wildlife. They've purposely driven in far enough to the woods to make it a nightmare to be picked up and removed, and not seen dumping it."

Another dog walker, Kate Waktare added: "When I first saw the mess I wanted to cry. I was so cross about it. It makes me really, really angry. They just use the woods as a drive-through dump and they get away with it. I have seen vans parked up here before. They have left buckets of concrete, and boxes of prescription drugs. I love the woods and come walking here every day. People do it because they don't want to pay to have rubbish removed."

Test Valley Borough Council environmental portfolio holder, Cllr Alison Johnston, said: “We investigate every single fly-tip that is reported to us and take a zero-tolerance approach that has seen us take dozens of cases to court successfully.

"We have many measures in place to try to prevent this disgusting crime from taking place, including covert cameras, signage and education.

"The best method is to make sure residents check that their waste carriers are licensed correctly before any of their waste is removed.

"Licences will have a registration number, an address and the date the carrier was registered.”

“We will use every method at our disposal in this case to find those responsible and bring them to justice and we will continue to look at ways of deterring fly-tipping in this area.

"We are proud of our extremely high prosecution success rate and, as our officers investigate and clear up this waste, if we have sufficient evidence, we will take it to court.

Last week another huge heap of rubbish was dumped by fly-tippers in a residential area of Southampton.

The pile of garden waste, building materials and a broken fridge lay blocking a public footpath just off Springford Road in Coxford.