This week a double mattress was found floating in the stream behind a property in Clock Mill Lane.

Town clerk Richard Wood said the town council didn't know where the rubbish came from, if it was dumped or brought to the waterway by children playing.

But Mr Wood warned that the debris could cause problems for the town.
Mr Wood said: "This isn't the only item of this size that's been down there, I've been aware of sides of wardrobes and kitchen units – all kinds of debris.

"It could be children taking waste items and playing in the stream, but this is the result. We've got the danger of the town being flooded again if we get some heavy rain."

Mr Wood said that following the report into last year's floods, the Environment Agency was taking steps to remove blockages but that this tended to involve structural changes within the drainage system.
He made a plea to parents to check what their children were doing in the beck.

Jim Dempster found the mattress in the stream, where the beck runs through his garden.

Mr Dempster said: "It's a double mattress, it's a big thing; in fact I think there's the remains of a whole double bed in there.

All the debris causes problems, especially at the moment because the floods last time brought down a concrete barrier and everything that comes down piles up behind it now.

"If we do get heavy rain it all causes flooding. The Environment Agency have been and taken photos in the past but I guess that everything's got to be prioritised.

"It's coming from further back, from the beck up near Mile End Park and Denison Road and further. I don't know if it's fly-tipping or what."