COUNCILLORS and Kassam Stadium staff are locked in a debate over who should clean up piles of rubbish and flytipping in the area.

Last month five city councillors wrote to former Oxford United chairman Firoz Kassam decrying filthy conditions in the site's car parks, hedgerows and the Ozone Leisure Park.

Despite a joint walkabout it is still contested whether site owners Firoka, which is led by Mr Kassam, the city council or the Environment Agency are responsible for keeping the area tidy.

The letter was signed by councillors Linda Smith and Rae Humberstone of Blackbird Leys, Sian Taylor and Jennifer Pegg of Northfield Brook and Gill Sanders of Littlemore.

It said: "Car parks and bushes around the perimeter of the site are full of litter and have become a magnet for flytipping.

"In places the hedges are thick with rubbish and are an eyesore and a potential health hazard.

"The brook which runs through the site has also got dumped items in it such as shopping trolleys and mattresses.

"We are appalled that these blighted corners of your estate could be the lasting impression of our beautiful city.

"We also find it unacceptable that local residents have to put up with this filth on their doorstep."

Ms Pegg, a governor at Northfield School in Knights Road, said litter was sometimes even thrown over the fence into the play area.

She said: "We have been trying to get more bins in Blackbird Leys and Northfield Brook but I think the Kassam could do with an awful lot more."

A letter to councillors from Anne Lowry, of the Kassam Stadium, stated that the site had a seven-day rubbish collector who picks up all rubbish within the boundary.

But she added the council needed to make a "regular commitment" to picking up litter outside it and Northfield Brook fell under the Environment Agency's jurisdiction.

However, EA spokeswoman Auria Dee said flytipping in Northfield Brook would not normally be the EA's responsibility unless it posed a danger.

Ms Smith said councillors had taken a "very amicable" tour of the site with staff on Monday, March 21, but the disagreement still stood.

She said: "We were hindered by their misunderstanding of land ownership.

"Staff had been told not to worry about certain areas because they weren't their responsibility.

"After the meeting I went away and got plans from the estates department at the town hall, and it's clear that it's part of Ozone Leisure Park.

"I don't think Mr Kassam is doing the basics in terms of spending the money he had on maintaining it.

"A spring clean is definitely in order and it's down to him to do it."

When contacted by the Oxford Mail Mr Kassam said: "Don't waste my time."