TESCO in Tetbury are trying their best to bring their recycling site, which suffered a buildup of waste, to “acceptable standards”, a district councillor has said.

The store had been facing problems of overcrowded waste and of unrecyclable materials being dumped at its site for over a year.

Residents complained that the site was a health hazard, with rats and foxes claimed to have been sighted there.

The problem was brought up in a town public meeting on March 18 by Councillor Maggie Heaven, of Cotswolds District Council (CDC).

Since then, however, the district councillor said that she was feeling more optimistic with the store being more “understanding”.

Although a solution has not yet been decided, Maggie said: “The manager at Tesco in Tetbury is being far more understanding to bring the recycling unit up to more acceptable standards.

“There is talk about prosecuting anyone caught fly-tipping.

“It is also safe to say that Tesco have been more proactive in contacting their contractor on a more regular basis.”

She added that she had seen improvement at the site with cardboard boxes dumped outside of the boxes being collected.

Earlier in March, a spokesman for Tesco said that the dumping problem was not unique to Tetbury and that they had closed recycling sites from other stores because of similar problems.

He said: "It is a last resort to close down the Tetbury recycling site because it is unfair to those who do use the site properly.

“We are currently reviewing the problem with our contractors and we apologise to our customers for the inconvenience being caused."