Knives have been found dumped at a Keighley beauty spot where young children play.

The potentially deadly kitchen blades were discovered among other rubbish discarded at the site.

Residents and councillors have condemned the incident, which they say could have led to serious injury if a youngster had picked them up.

“It beggars belief people would dump this kind of thing,” said Councillor Mike Ellis, whose ward includes the Altar Lane, Long Lee, site.

“It just shows the complete recklessness of the perpetrators. Children could have rummaged around in the material, and this sort of thing could cause a serious injury.”

Fellow Bingley Rural councillor Simon Cooke said: “It’s quite shocking that you get items such as these being fly-tipped.

“Fly-tipping is bad enough as it is, but to leave potentially dangerous objects lying around makes it worse in lots of ways.”

The knives and other items – including shoes, wellington boots, cutlery, clothes, paint tins and cardboard boxes – were discovered by villager Ann Johnson while she was out for a walk.

“What if a child had found these knives?” she said. “Someone could have been hurt.”

“It’s a lovely place to walk and I go up there quite often, but things have been dumped on the track before. Usually it’s been builder’s waste, which has been left just round the bend where it can’t be seen from the main road. It’s spoiling the countryside and there’s really no need for it.”

She said some of the dumped clothes and shoes were in good enough condition to have been recycled for charity rather than being thrown away.

Mrs Johnson, 68, reported the discovery to Bradford Council last Tuesday evening, and officers arrived to dispose of the items the following day.

Coun Ellis added: “There are civic amenity sites where people can easily take rubbish.

“I hope that in this case there may be evidence to indicate who’s done it. Even if they gave the waste to someone else to dispose of, if that person did not have a waste carriers licence they would still be guilty.”

A Bradford Council spokesman confirmed a member of the public reported fly tipping on Altar Lane on the evening of August 27, and this was cleared away by the council's cleansing team two days later.

She added: "Fly-tipping is a criminal offence. If anyone witnesses fly-tipping they should note the registration number of any vehicle involved as well as any other relevant information and report it to us so we can prosecute these criminals."