A NEW anti-rat task force will be explored by council officers after reports of rodent infestations across Edinburgh.
Residents told councillors that the rat problem in parts of the city was now “an invasion” and claimed the vermin were chewing through water mains, walls and electric sockets.
The problem has left some residents too terrified to leave their homes, it was claimed.
SNP councillor Kate Campbell, who made the call for action, told Thursday’s full council meeting: “I think it’s really clear that the impact of vermin, particularly rats, is horrendous.
“And there’s a recurring theme of infestations that are happening on council-owned land that is not being maintained.
“We are struggling, because you can get pest control out very easily, they are very responsive, but if they can’t get in to be able to lay bait where it needs to be laid, it is not helping at all.
“So we just need the teams to be able to come together, to make sure that pest control can get access to the land, that it’s cut back and maintained where it needs to be to deal with this.”
She said she had constituents in her Portobello and Craigmillar ward who were seriously suffering from the issue.
LibDem councillor Hal Osler said she wanted council officers to return with plans with detailed costs, so that continued action could be included in the next budget.
Councillors verbally agreed the motion to explore setting up the task force, and an addendum by Osler which put her wish for a costed plan in writing.
Earlier on in the meeting, Conor Archibald, a representative of Niddrie Marischal Residents Association gave a deputation addressing the issue in his neighbourhood.
He said: “For years now, residents have lived with an escalating problem that has gone far beyond what any household should ever have to face.
“Behind our homes lies a strip of council-owned land that has been left completely unmaintained for many years, overgrown, full of junk, and now a perfect breeding ground for rats.
“What began as rats running around in the back gardens has over the last six months turned into full invasions of our homes.
“Residents have had water mains chewed through, electrical sockets destroyed, plasterboard ripped apart, and in some cases, repairs carried out on a Monday have had to be redone by the Friday because the rats simply tore through them again.”
He said that his home had been flooded after rats chewed through plumbing in an upstairs bathroom, causing ceilings in the bottom floor to fall in.
Archibald added that hiring exterminators in the neighbourhood did not help because the rats were coming from the council-owned land.
And, he said that rats caused a significant public health risk, and that it kept people away from the neighbourhood.
Campbell asked him to elaborate him on what his neighbourhood is like, and to detail the impact the infestation has had on his family.
Archibald replied that, in his street, most of the residents were elderly, and housebound, relying on their gardens to get out.
Describing one, he said: “My next door neighbour Mary, she’s got a pacemaker, and she’s so distraught over the situation. She’s scared to come out her room with fear of rats.
“She’s banging on doors, banging on walls, to try and scare them away, so she doesn’t come into contact with them. It’s horrific.
“My own mum, she’s got multiple health conditions, she’s at risk of quite a lot of things, and this extra stress is horrific for her.
“No matter what we do, what actions we take, nothing’s good enough, because the council land behind the house is left in a complete state.”
Green councillor Alys Mumford asked what he might like to see the council land could be used for.
He said that it was often used as a walking route along the Niddrie Burn in the past until it was fenced off by the council four or five years ago, and that he’d like to see it re-opened.
It comes as a several month long issue with pest control has been uncovered at the Kaimes School.
Edinburgh Live reported from an email to staff sent on Thursday which said mice had been discovered in bags of unopened food, and that a dead mouse had been found in a staff member’s handbag.
Staff members also told the site that animal droppings had been found in pupil work trays.
