PILES of rubbish infested with rats and maggots are the “final straw” for a grandmother left wanting to move out.
Valerie John has lived in the block of flats on 246 Shirley Road for nine years but is now desperately looking for a new home.
The 60-year-old grandmother said the overflowing bin store has attracted rats, maggots, and even foxes to the premises which have not been cleared for over two weeks.
The block of flats is run by social housing provider Stonewater, and Ms John is calling on the provider and Southampton City Council to remove the rubbish and vermin infestation.
Both the council and Stonewater have confirmed the rubbish will now be removed but have not said when.
'The rubbish is piling up'
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Ms John said: “The rubbish has been mounting up for a couple of weeks and it’s getting bigger and bigger.
“It’s piling up and it’s a health hazard. I want to move because of this, the rubbish is my final straw.
“Neither the council nor Stonewater are prepared to help us. Stonewater has put rat boxes down but that is all they have done.
“And yet we have lots of rats continuously coming back and forth through here."
According to Southampton City Council, waste collection crews were unable to access the bin store as the key was missing.
Ms John added: “I think the binmen must have come one day and saw something like a piece of carpet that can’t be collected, and never returned to take the rest of the rubbish.
“People try their best to clear it up. My neighbour put the bags outside the door in the store but people are bringing more and more rubbish down.”
'We have had enough'
Bulging bin bags full of waste are falling out of the bin store and other unwanted items such as a mattress have been dumped outside the door.
The ever-growing number of bin bags is attracting rats to the area, but scaring people away, according to Ms John.
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She said: “My grandchildren come and visit and it’s not fair for them. My grandson has cerebral palsy and we saw a rat and his legs just gave out as it scared him.
“I like having my grandchildren here to visit but with all the rats coming out of the bushes, they are scared.
“We have all had enough. We want Stonewater to sort the rats, move the bins and have a bigger bin area space at the back.
“And we want the bins to be emptied by the council.
“The problem is, some people don’t put their rubbish in the bin area, or they just throw it on the floor rather than put it in the bins.
“It is a health hazard and we now have rats and maggots.”
Clearing is on the cards
According to Stonewater a clean of the area has been ordered but a date is yet to be determined.
Customer experience director, Olubukola Adeleye said: “We are really sorry that our customers living in the Shirley Road area of Southampton are experiencing problems with the emptying of the bins which has resulted in the presence of maggots and rats.
“We are already aware of the problem and have ordered a clean of the area, a date for which we expect to have in the next couple of days.
“Once the area has been thoroughly cleaned, we will work with pest control to make sure, that if the cleaning of the site doesn’t solve the problem, that further measures are in place.”
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Southampton City Council said the reason the bin store has not been cleared is due to a missing key.
A spokesperson said: "Six weeks ago the waste collection crew that makes collections for this residence reported that they were no longer able to access the locked bin store as the key was missing.
"This was reported to the managing agents of the property, requesting a key to enable access, to which we have had no response.
"Now that the bin store is open and accessible once again, we will arrange clearance for this waste."
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