Wellinton Town Council has said 'it should not happen again' after outrage erupted at litter discarded at the carnival.

Social media was awash with residents complaining about discarded rubbish which was left lining the streets after Saturday's carnival.

One resident took to social media to slam the state of the town centre as 'disgusting' with another saying there was 'No excuse' to dump rubbish in the streets.

In a statement the Town Council expressed their disappointment at the plague of litter which was blighting the town centre on Sunday morning. They blamed the failure of Somerset Council to carry out a cleaning operation, and pledged to work to ensure it does not happen again. A spokesperson for the council said:

"‘We hope everyone enjoyed the Carnival at the weekend – we certainly did. The Carnival Committee should be congratulated for putting on an excellent Carnival.

"Like everyone else we were disappointed at the condition the town was left in after the event and the lack of a clear up.  In previous years Somerset West and Taunton Council, now Somerset Council, which is responsible for street cleaning in the town, has arranged for the town to be cleared after the Carnival but for some reason it didn’t happen this year. 

"As soon as we were made aware of this early on Sunday morning we contacted the Out of Hours Team at Somerset Council who arranged for an operative to come to the town to clear up.

"Clearly this is not a satisfactory situation and we need to understand why it happened to make sure it doesn’t happen again.  To that end we will be discussing what happened with the Carnival Committee, as the event organisers, to see what arrangements they thought were in place and Somerset Council to find out why what usually happens didn’t this year. 

"This morning, Monday October 2, our Community Warden has checked and ensured the town centre is now free of rubbish."

It is understood that despite being alerted 'early on Sunday morning' a Somerset Council worker did not arrive in Wellington to begin the clean up operation until 2pm.