Islington Council has defended its Clean Islington app after a former councillor branded it “useless” and “reactive.”

The app allows people to report environmental issues such as dog fouling and fly-tipping via mobile phone.

But former Lib Dem councillor Tracy Ismail said the app has done very little to ease the borough’s mounting rubbish problem.

She said: “It’s just useless. It’s so complicated. I could just tweet stuff but they don’t like that because it’s too public.”

Ms Ismail, 53, who lives in Caledonian Road, added: “I don’t know why they bothered wasting their time with it. I’d be very interested to know how many people successfully use it. Not many, I’d imagine.”

Ms Ismail criticised the declining state of cleanliness in the borough, using her own street as an example.

She said: “The bins just don’t get emptied when they are full. People have started leaving rubbish next to the bins.

“Islington has got dirtier and dirtier. I don’t know what the solution is but it’s not improving. I don’t know how they paid for the app but it is probably a waste of money.

“It shouldn’t be the responsibility of the public to flag where the rubbish is, that’s up to the council. They should be on top of this.”

But the council’s executive member for environment and transport, Cllr Claudia Webbe, said: “We’ve had almost 2,000 reports of fly-tipping and other issues via the free Clean Islington app since it launched in March, and we average 14 new reports a day.

“It is the most effective way for residents to report rubbish in the borough.”

Cllr Webbe added: “I’d like to thank all the residents and businesses who have used the app and have made a huge difference to helping make Islington a place where everyone can enjoy a good quality of life.”