A senior councillor has branded a minority of people living in his ward "lazy" for littering the streets with dumped furniture.

Oxford City Council's deputy leader, Bill Baker, who represents Iffley Fields, spoke out after he discovered a rolled-up carpet, double bed and mattress dumped at the corner of Donnington Bridge Road and Iffley Road -- less than a mile from the Redbridge recycling centre.

He said the city council was fighting an increasingly difficult battle against fly-tippers -- despite operating a free service which allows residents to have bulky items picked up free of charge.

He said: "This is the fifth time I have phoned the council in as many months to collect bulk items of dumped rubbish from this spot

"I realise some people can't take their rubbish to the dump, but why do people insist on dumping rubbish by the side of the road and make the place look like a slum?

"I live on this estate and I'm tired of seeing it dragged down just because people are too lazy to pick up the phone."

Rubbish is illegally dumped somewhere in England every 35 seconds, according to a new database which has recorded incidents over the past 12 months.

Oxfordshire's waste managers and colleagues from the five district councils have dealt with 2,756 dumping incidents since the Flycapture database records began -- collectively costing them £144,256.

Statistics released by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Environment Agency, and the Local Government Association show councils deal with 75,000 incidents of fly-tipping each month.

Out of 34,743 recorded incidents -- almost half of them at the side of public roads -- black bags and other household rubbish made up the majority of dumped items.

To get rid of bulky items in Oxford, call the city works department on 01865 252936.