A neighbourhood has been hit by a fly tipping ‘epidemic’ leaving mounds of rubbish on the streets
Locals say their homes are being invaded by a ‘disgusting’ stench.
The desolate scene with skips overflowing and countless bin bangs dumped across the streets in the Griffin area of Blackburn, Lancs.
The pictures show household rubbish, medication bottles, furniture and needles which were discarded on Agnes Street, Hardman Street and Rodney Street.
Blackburn and Darwen Council had only cleared out part of the rubbish last week, but mountains have already been dumped again.
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Skips have also been overflowing for months, with stench of faeces and expired foods permeating the air.
A number of unnamed residents have said that people are driving in at night and dumping their rubbish in the neighbourhood.
One resident Lubna Rashid, 47, said her six children refuse to leave their bedrooms as their living room has been ‘ravaged by rats’ due to the accumulation of rubbish on the street.
The single mum,said the ‘shocking’ fly tipping has been going on for around six months.
Lubna, a student, said: “There is so much garbage in the street.
"It’s disgusting now and it’s full of rats.
“It’s so terrible, it smells terrible in the street.
"We can’t even open the windows.”
The area around Hardman Street is due for demolition but is still occupied by many householders.
Official advice states ‘it is not essential to provide an official statement when reporting fly-tipping but a statement is very useful and on conviction the fine is up to £50,000 or six months imprisonment or both’.
A council spokesperson said: “Our household waste recycling centres are open and we currently offer residents of the borough over 3,400 booking slots each week.
“Our officers will always do their best to respond to reports of rubbish dumping or fly-tipping and we have recently been in this area to remove previously reported fly-tipping.
"We will be investigating these latest incidents.”
Figures released last week showed councils in England dealt with more than 976,000 instances of fly-tipping in the year up to the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
It was a two per cent rise on the 950,000 incidents in 2018-19, with just under two thirds made up of household waste.
The most common places for the illegal dumping of waste were on roads and pavements.
Local authorities have said efforts to tackle fly-tipping had been “limited” by the coronavirus pandemic.
