FAST food chain McDonald’s has been criticised by a Swindon councillor after he spotted burger wrappings and other waste littered around borough beauty spots.

Gary Sumner, a ward councillor for Ridgeway and cabinet member for strategic planning at Swindon Borough Council, snapped pictures of the litter on Pack Hill, Wanborough, and on the Ridgeway Road between Liddington and Chiseldon.

The councillor, who in the past has been heavily critical of those who dump fly-tipping around his ward, said in a direct appeal to the firm.

He said: “McDonald’s, this is your refuse – you sold it to a customer knowing they would eat ‘on the go’ and here it is.

“You are no different to anyone else complicit in fly-tipping in our towns and villages. We don’t need you changing your straws to paper when this environmental harm occurs.”

He suggested the fast food giant, which has five restaurants around Swindon, could introduce a surcharge on takeaway meals to help cover the cost of cleaning up litter.

The councillor added in a message aimed directly at the company: “I’m not a hypocrite. I enjoy the occasional McDonald’s, but I always manage to find the bins – including the one in your car park, which is more than can be said for many of your customers.”

McDonald’s recently reopened its Greenbridge restaurant, with a distinctive first floor seating area held aloft on silts above the car park below.

A spokeswoman for the company said: “We take our responsibility to the local community extremely seriously, and that includes litter. We complete daily litter picks in the areas surrounding our restaurants, collecting others’ rubbish as well as our own. We would be more than happy to meet with Coun Sumner to discuss the concerns he has raised.”

Elsewhere, Old Town councillor Jane Milner-Barry blasted those who had dumped waste around a litter bin on Quarry Road, near Town Gardens, over the scorching Easter bank holiday weekend.

She posted on a community Facebook page: “OK, so it was a fine bank holiday and the play area litter bins were full. [But] is it really too much to ask that people should take their litter home?”

Litter louts can be handed an on-the-spot fine of £150 by council enforcement officers.

Under the Environmental Protection Act, leaving litter can carry a maximum fine of £2,500 and offenders who fight the case can be tried at the magistrates’ court.