LIVING near an illegal roadside dump that has sprung up in the past fortnight has created an extra problem for Tweed's deputy mayor.

"I actually mow that piece of land. At the moment it's a bit difficult," said Cr Phil Youngblutt yesterday of the growing pile of rubbish opposite his farm and fruit stall on the Tweed Valley Way at Fernvale.

"It's growing all the time," he said. "Not only that, I've noticed some people going through it to get the goods out of it."

The illegal garbage tip which contains an old sofa, mattress, TV and other furniture is the latest in a series of impromptu dumps that spring up when Tweed Shire Council is undertaking its bi-annual roadside collections.

Residents are limited in the amount of garbage they can put out for those collections and are urged to keep the material in neat, separate piles.

Yesterday the council's waste management co-ordinator Adam Faulkner said the Fernvale pile was "again a case of illegal dumping" weeks in advance of a planned roadside clean-up.

"There is no valid reason for these communal illegal dumping spots to exist each and every clean-up," he said.

Mr Faulkner said the council had initiated a program of signage and inspection of dumping hotspots but illegal dumping had continued.

He added: "Council will at great cost clean up these illegal dumping sites; unfortunately on some occasions only to return to another pile several days later."

The twice-yearly roadside council clean-up began this week along the Tweed Coast and continues to December 2.

The clean-up is for excess household rubbish with a maximum amount of one cubic metre.