A MOTHER and her son have started their own mission to clean up an area of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal that has been plagued by rubbish.

Jenni Brennan and her son Toby, eight, from Leigh, have been spending their own time collecting rubbish along the canal path near Hooten Lane.

Mum-of-two Jenni walks with Toby to St Thomas CE Primary School in that direction.

She said: “It has been on my mind to clean up the area for a while because it is a nice walk and unfortunately people dump rubbish there.

“Toby wanted to help because he said the pollution was not good for the wildlife which live there so we managed to get hold of some litter pickers from a council worker so we could get started.”

Jenni , 42, is hoping the clean up will encourage others to tidy up the environment.

She added: “I think if each person spends a bit of time to pick up the litter that is surrounding their home, shop or business then it would make such a huge difference to the whole area.

"It can be as easy as picking up litter as you walk home.

“Having said that, I think there are not enough bins around the canal so something needs to be done.”

In response to the litter problem, Wigan Council has said its environment team will be visiting the site, which is also managed by the Canal and River Trust.

A council spokesperson said: “We had a fly tipping report in the area earlier this year which we arranged to be cleaned up and regularly empty the bins along the route.

“We have not had any recent reports of litter or fly tipping however will look into it further to see what can be done.

“We would encourage anyone who spots someone littering or fly tipping to report it to us at wigan.gov.uk/reportit or via the Report It app.”