Furious residents have described a pathway behind a Thornhill retail park as a 'dumping ground' for rubbish and fly tipping.

Antelope Park on Bursledon Road has a bustling array of shops and takeaways such as The Range, Lidl, Costa Coffee and KFC.

But just behind The Range, down Linacre Road, it looks like a wasteland - with bottles, crisp packets, chocolate bar wrappers, bicycle parts and even a fly tipped sofa strewn among the trees and bushes.

READ MORE: Antelope Retail Park has new owners following £35m sale

One Thornhill resident said: “People need to understand that this is their community, and it is worth respecting.

“Nobody wants to walk through a dumping ground to get their goods or have a browse around the shops – it’s disgusting.

“It starts in the home and with how people are raised – its not hard to put rubbish in your pocket until you find a bin.

“As horrible as it is, I’m not sure what else the council can do to police it – perhaps they should be dishing out fines more often.”

Despite the volume of rubbish left in the bushes, there is a small bin either side of each entrance to the pathway.

Another Thornhill resident added: “Even though the council has put bins here, we often walk past and see them overflowing with litter blowing into the road.

“The council need to up the number of times they empty these bins.

“They could also do with fixing the fences around the hedges to stop people chucking their waste into the bushes."

In response, the council confirmed the littering was on their land and that they would send a team down to clear the waste.

A council statement said: “This is Southampton City Council land and this had not been reported to us until now. Our team will start a litter pick shortly.

"Please help the council by reporting littering on our website here.  Anyone caught littering could be issued with a £100 fine”.