Ernie Ward was part of a five-man South Holland District Council team involved in the one-off cleaning of Gore Lane on Wednesday, and he said that businesses need to get their act together to keep the place tidy.

The team spent almost four hours cleaning the street and tackling the mounds of rubbish left at the rear of shops, where cigarette butts, food wrappings and overflowing rubbish bags were in abundance.

Mr Ward said: "Businesses are not looking after what they have got so it's the taxpayers who have to pay for it to be cleaned.

"People complain about rats but they are doing nothing to help themselves.

"If my garden was full of rubbish I would be ashamed, and these businesses are paying rates to be here so why aren't they taking the time to clean up?

"We can't be everywhere all the time and if the council put 50 of us in each village to keep it clean there would be uproar.

"If they cleaned up on Gore Lane there would be fewer chances for people to commit arson."

Police and fire services recently met in the troubled street, which has become a scene of rubbish dumping, drug-taking and anti-social behaviour in recent times.

The owner of Sheepmarket coffee shop Take-5, which backs onto Gore Lane, has hit back at suggestions that the businesses are to blame, arguing that most of the problems are caused by vagrants scavenging in the bins.

Amanda Knowles-Buckby said: "The businesses are all doing the best they can with the bins that they pay for, but they cannot be responsible for people dragging out their rubbish.

"I paid double for my bin so that I could get one that locks because I own a shop that sells food and our bins are generally the first one vagrants go to.

"The problem is there's no lighting so it's a place where vagrants, drug-takers and idiots of all persuasion can go."