An incident of flytipping outside a Bolton museum has been condemned by local leaders.

Piles of rubbish were flytipped outside Hall i' th' Wood museum earlier this week, with an MP and councillor labelling it as "disrespectful".

Wood, cardboard, bin bags and suitcases were dumped at the grade I listed building built in the 16th century on Monday or Tuesday.

Bolton Council's executive cabinet member for regulatory services, Cllr Hilary Fairclough, said: “We were made aware of recent flytipping at Hall I’ Th’ Wood on Friday and our team was quick to clear the rubbish away.

"It's sad to see this kind of damage to our local environment anywhere in our borough - but it's even more distressing to hear flytippers have been dumping waste at such a treasured local landmark. Unfortunately, there have been a number of instances of flytipping at Hall I’ Th’ Wood in recent months.

"The museum is a beautiful part of our heritage and I don't know why people think they can do this.

"It beggars belief and I've just got no time for people flytipping.

"It's just so disrespectful, this incident is really quite shocking. It shows such disrespect for a part of the town that we should all be really proud of."

Mark Logan MP visited the site soon after to highlight the incident.

He said: "Can you believe this? We're at the Hall i' th' Wood museum, one of the most iconic buildings in all of Bolton North East and just look at the bloody mess that has been left here over night by someone who's just completely disrespectful to the local people here but also leaving it in such a way that the council and other people have to come out and clean up this mess.

"A lady was just walking past a few minutes ago with her dog and said that we talk about dogs and animals being dirty but it's humans in many cases that end up being the dirtiest of all the animals.

"This needs to stop, we get reports of flytipping week in week out in every part of the constituency and unfortunately we've seen it here today in Hall i' th' Wood."

Cllr Fairclough added: "As well as quickly removing this waste we will take all the necessary steps to find out who is responsible and prosecute where necessary. In this instance we have been passed information from local residents as well recovering evidence from the waste itself. Action is now being taken.

"There's a big issue at the moment with people advertising on social media to take away waste for cash. Please be careful using these services to dispose of any domestic rubbish - check first if people have a waste carrier's license and crucially ask to see it before you part with any money. If possible please use the council’s household waste recycling centres instead to get rid of your waste."