VISITORS to parks and green spaces in Leeds are being urged to take their rubbish home with them.

Leeds City council has launched a campaign asking people to behave responsibly after a significant rise in the amount of litter and rubbish across the city's 63 community parks in the past year.

Councillor Denise Ragan, Leeds City Council’s lead member for environment and active lifestyles, said:“We are very proud of our parks and green spaces, which have been so important to people of all ages over the last year. Unfortunately we have seen a rise in litter along with increased visitor numbers to our parks across the city.

“This is the reason why we have started a campaign at a number of our parks to urge people to please take their rubbish home or dispose of it appropriately. I cannot emphasise enough how important this message is to keep our parks and green spaces looking fantastic and protect the wellbeing of animals and wildlife.

“The scenes we’ve seen at some parks, and the sheer volume of litter that has been left on these green spaces, is completely unacceptable. We need every single visitor to our community parks and green spaces to show personal responsibility and take their litter home or dispose of it acceptably.