Slow to act council making rat problem worse, claims resident

The resident said she had called Rotherham Borough Council’s Streetpride team over the discarded bags of waste on Clifton Terrace, which were eventually ripped open and spilled their contents.

Council staff finally cleared away the rubbish after the Advertiser raised the issue, but the frustrated woman, who said some bins had also not been emptied, said she was still annoyed it had taken a fortnight and a call from the press to deal with it.

“We have already got rats in nearby wasteland and this is not going to help,” she said.

“I accept dealing with rats is not easy but encouraging them by leaving open bags of rubbish in the street is only going to make things worse.

“The bags were originally piled on top of a black bin but when the bin was emptied the bags were just dumped on the ground.

“They were then ripped open and the rubbish went all over the place.

“I despair - it has been reported by several neighbours that we have a rat problem.

“I have to ask, are we that rich in RMBC council coffers that we can afford two call-outs, one to empty the missed overflowing bins and a second to clear the rubbish the council leave on the street to exacerbate our rat problem?”

“The council said they had made enquiries with the tenants about whose bin it was, but the common sense approach would have been to just take the extra bags away.”

The council’s interim assistant director of community safety and street scene, Ajman Ali, said: “We apologise for the delay in responding to the residents’ initial enquiry and have since collected the extra refuse bags on Tuesday morning. 

“We will investigate the disposal of waste at this location so that the issue can be resolved. 

“Residents are kindly reminded that any additional waste should be taken to their nearest Household Waste Recycling Centre. 

“The local sites around the borough to take household waste can be found on the council website at http://www.rotherham.gov.uk/bins. 

“We would like to thank the resident for raising their concerns with us.”