Members of a church congregation had to dodge a large pile of horticultural waste dumped outside their place of worship.

The Rev. C. Winston Rawlins, administrator at Emmanuel Baptist Church on Dundonald Street, has hit out at the "callous" individuals who created the mess.

Rev. Rawlins, 75, discovered the pile on the sidewalk in front of the church when he arrived at 10.30 a.m yesterday to prepare for the 11 a.m service.

He described it as around three truck-loads of leaves, tree cuttings and scrap metal which must have been left there overnight on Saturday or early yesterday. Later yesterday morning he spotted a young man adding to the pile of trash.

"I asked him what he was doing and he said: 'This is back of town.' I said: 'This is unacceptable.' Because it's back of town he thinks he can litter the city. We had to walk around it when we had the morning service. I'm not sure who the young man is, I'm not even sure if he lives in that area," he said.

Rev. Rawlins said he viewed the incident as particularly unfortunate given the efforts made in recent months to regenerate North Hamilton and move away from the old 'back of town' image.

"I think it's despicable. I want it to be shown and shamed in the newspaper so people can see how callous this is.

"I would hate to say they targeted the church without any proof but I would say this is extraordinary," he said.

Rev. Rawlins planned to call the Corporation of Hamilton about the problem, but said he would not contact the Police as he doubted there was anything they could do.

Mayor of Hamilton Sutherland Madeiros said he was disappointed to hear about the situation and that the Corporation would do what it could to prevent it re-occurring.

"Certainly the North of Hamilton is looking better and more people are taking pride in the place," he said.