LITTER levels at a park in York are to be investigated after a local resident complained that it looked like a dumping ground.

Bottles, wrappers, cans and even planks of wood have built up by the side of Osbaldwick Beck, which runs through Hull Road Park in Tang Hall.

Now City of York Council, which is responsible for maintaining the park and clearing litter from the beck, has promised to investigate the build-up and immediately talk to the contractors involved.

Maureen Hagen, 47, who lives in Alcuin Avenue, Tang Hall, has used the park throughout her life and said she has never seen it looking so bad.

She said: "I go through that park every day with my two dogs and the rubbish has been building up and building up.

"It's washing down the river and perhaps kids are throwing things in when their parents aren't looking.

"The park used to be one of the best in York and now it's one of the worst as far as I'm concerned, and if things don't look nice then people are not going to go back there.

"It used to be cleaned properly when I was a child and we were proud to have a park. I'm just hoping something will be done - anything's better than the way it is at the moment."

Brian Williams, parks and open spaces officer with City of York Council, said: "We try to clear the rubbish at least once a week. If there's a problem there it's good that I'm being made aware of it.

"It's not very often that we have a complaint about the park, that's for sure. I can make a phone call and get them (the contractors) to sort it out before I get down there and I would want an explanation as to why there is a build-up of rubbish.

"I will go down and have a look at it and solve it. If it requires more bodies in the park to deal with it then so be it."

The investigation comes after a review of street cleaning in York which recommended that street cleaning outside the city centre should be improved and schemes to tackle litter hotspots should be implemented.

Updated: 11:34 Wednesday, February 20, 2002