RESIDENTS on one of Suffolk’s largest estates have been warned they could lose their litter bins for good if vandals keep destroying them.

The dog waste and general litter bins on the Howard estate, in Bury St Edmunds, have been repeatedly targeted by criminals who have ripped them from their posts and emptied the contents over the playing fields.

Each time it has happened, officers from St Edmundsbury Borough Council have been out to repair the damage and clear up the mess.

However, the council – in an e-mail seen by the East Anglian Daily Times – has warned the situation is “unsustainable” and stated it might “be forced to remove the amenity, which would be terrible for the vast majority who use it”.

The council has had to replace three separate bins in the last five weeks.

Ward councillor Mark Ereira said last night: “The community has really had enough of people going along and pulling off these bins and spraying all of the litter over the fields.

“It is really unsustainable for the taxpayer and the community to repair.

“I will do everything I can to ensure these bins remain, but it is happening all the time and I can understand where the council is coming from.

“It is making it so unpleasant for people using the fields, whether to play or walk their dogs.

“At least twice a week, I am phoning the council asking them to come back and clear up the rubbish when they have already been out to clean up that very morning.

“Budgets are not going to be able to accommodate this.

“We need people to come forward if they see this type of thing happening. It is ugly and unsavoury and we really need the community to get behind us on this.”

Susanne Game, chairman of the Howard Estate Association of Residents and Tenants (Heart), said: “It is disgusting. They keep spilling rubbish on the estate.”

She said the matter would be raised at tonight’s meeting of Heart.