A MUM-OF-FOUR described a play park near her house in Pontnewydd as a “disgrace” because of the amount of litter often found there.

Catherine Cullen, 39, lives five minutes from the play-park in Pontnewydd adjacent to Brookland Terrace.

She said: “The local park here is an absolute disgrace. The bins overflow leaving bags of dog mess on the floor and the park covered in litter.

“Throughout the summer holidays it has been really bad. The rubbish was billowing out of bins, including dog excrement, and the lock was broken on the bins. The park was full of plastic bottles and papers and on occasion broken glass. The bins were full of wasps.

“I have got four children. My little boy is two and he’s been toddling around in all the rubbish. It’s really gross. A lot of mums in the area use that park for their toddlers. It’s just not on. In the evenings they get teenagers as well. There’s a chip shop just up the road. Even if they wanted to put stuff in the bin they can’t do it.

“I would like to see regular emptying of bins so teenagers have got somewhere to put their rubbish, bins that can be locked properly and regular litter picking. I have made one complaint to the council.”

A spokesman for Torfaen council said the bins were emptied at least weekly and cleaned every fortnight.

He said: “We certainly would have been there throughout the summer holidays.

“We are trying to crack down on dog fouling.”