A retired businesswoman is demanding action to clean up the litter blighting the lives of residents.

Kristina McElhinney is demanding council staff clean the area around her home on foot, not just by using motorised street sweepers.

She said people dump waste between Asda and Wardcliffe Road because there are so few bins.

“It’s an eyesore and a trail of litter,” said the 57-year-old. “It’s hardly conducive to the image of a seaside resort.

“If all the side roads are like this what does that say about the place?

“It’s such a lovely area so it’s a shame it’s blighted this way.

“It would be nice if Asda put bins out but it’s not their fault.

“People can’t be bothered to take the rubbish home. You can’t blame the tourists because it happens all year round.”

The Echo walked the 300 yards from Asda to her home. We examined one side of the road, pavement and bushes and found: 14 empty drinks cans, nine cigarette packets, four broken bottles and 70 other sizeable bits of rubbish – plastic bottles, crisp packets, plastic bags and similar objects.

Other people we met on the route agreed there was a problem.

Craig Hillier, 46, from Westham, a cleaner, said: “It’s quite unpleasant. Part of the problem is people just come out of Asda and throw it on the floor.

“It’s like this every day.”

Chris Randall, 36, a blacksmith on Newstead Road, gestured to a pile of rubbish near his business and said: “That’s out of order, having to look at that. Where is the nearest bin? The council are rubbish at clearing up.”

David Bowyer, Weymouth and Portland Council’s waste and recycling services manager, yesterday said Wardcliffe Road itself was clean but he had not examined the area closer to Asda.

He said: “Litter bins probably wouldn’t be a great beneift because there’s a number of places where we physically can’t put one in without causing a constriction.

“Newstead Road is swept more frequently than Wardcliffe Road and the sweepers have an extra man on board so they can get out and brush any rubbish into the path of the machine.

“But I will take the residents’ comments on board and have a look and see what we can do.”