HUMAN excrement, more than 20 needles, bedding, fly tipping and around 300 bags of rubbish have been cleared from a Northwich grot spot.

The faeces was found in household recycling boxes left underneath a railway footbridge, alongside mounds of empty beer cans and bottles, the drugs paraphernalia and litter thrown over the side of the bridge.

Volunteers from Northwich Town Council, Northwich Rugby Club, Northwich Clean Team and staff from Cheshire West and Chester Council's (CWAC) enforcement and Streetscene teams tackled the area, a playing field by Greenall Road bordered by railway lines, in a Give and Gain impact day on Wednesday.

This followed a clear up along the line by Network Rail volunteers.

Volunteers also cleaned the footbridges to the field from Greenall Road, Royle Street and King George Avenue, cut back weeds and overgrown vegetation and cleared overgrown paths, as well as tackling land around Ash Street and Oak Street.

Cllr Andy Stott, Northwich town mayor, said: "I think it's fantastic that people are coming together and giving their time up to look after the area.

"Now the community needs to support us to help keep it clean."

The playing field, formerly used by Victoria Road Primary School, will now be regularly maintained by Northwich Town Council.

Chris Shaw, Northwich Town Council's chief executive, said: "As a town council we are doing a lot more for the community and working with partners like the rugby club, Waitrose, Street Scene and Weaver Vale Housing Trust to improve the area.

"People have walked across the field while we've been clearing it and said 'this is fantastic, it's been a mess for 20 years'.

"There's been lots of anti-social behaviour and we're trying to eradicate that.

"We want kids to be able to go back on the field and play on there.

"We hope to put football posts on there so they can play football and put litter bins on there.

"We're working closely with the enforcement team and they will make regular patrols and anyone dropping litter will be fined."

The fine for dropping litter is £75.

Paul Blackburn, regulatory enforcement officer for CWAC, said: "People just don't think about dropping litter and it's a habit we're trying to break.

"Fining is the only way of making people understand.

"They forget about a warning but if they're fined they spread the word – littering is not nice and you can be fined, there are consequences.

"An uncared for area attracts undesirables and more litter and it's an ongoing downward slope."

Robert Ensor, Network Rail maintenance co-ordinator, said: “This piece of land was in a pretty awful state but with everybody working together, we were able to tackle it reasonably easily.

“Messy sites are no good for anybody – they attract anti-social behaviour and pose a safety risk.

“Also, it doesn’t give a good impression of the railways or the local area for people passing through.

“We were delighted to help, it was a real team effort and everybody put their full energies into it.”