Shop owners and tenants have raised concerns after rubbish bags were dumped and left in a street for up to three weeks.

More than a dozen bin liners of rubbish were left on a stretch of pathway in Everest Lane, behind a row of town centre shops.

After the Evening Telegraph spotted the bags and started making inquiries, the rubbish was cleared up but this hasn't stopped people expressing worries about health implications if bags are dumped there again.

Bipin Karsandas, partner at the Paper Shop, said: "We are concerned about rats. I heard someone contacted environmental health about it.

"Someone has dumped it. The people who live above the shop have their own bins so I wouldn't think it was any of them.

"When we're taking deliveries out the back rats could come into the shop. If this happens we could have a major problem as we have food in the shop."

It is not known where the bags came from, but tenants and shopkeepers believe they were dumped by people from outside the area and have been there for nearly three weeks.

A spokesman for Corby Council said waste disposal in Everest Lane came under town centre owner Land Securities' responsibilities.

However, a spokesman for Land Securities said: "The site in question is county highways land and the rubbish had been illegally flytipped.

"However, rather than simply leave the rubbish there to rot, Land Securities instructed its cleaning team to dispose of it."

A tenant of one of the houses above the shops, who did not wish to be named, said: "It was a mess and it was starting to smell.

"We've had problems with rats up here in the past.

"We've all been issued with keys by Leicester Housing Association to a cupboard downstairs where all the bins are.

"We were warned that anyone caught dumping rubbish will be fined."
More than 1,000 flytipping incidents were reported to Corby Council between A