"We just want to live in a clean street."
It doesn't sound like a lot to ask, does it? Well for residents in a part of south Liverpool this simple request means the world.
I was out in Wavertree this week, where I was confronted with scenes I have witnessed and reported on for several years now. Horrendous piles of rubbish, clutter and filth strewn across streets and pavements and clogging up revolting alleyways.
The streets I ventured to, which lie between Smithdown Road and Lawrence Road and make up the former Picton ward area, are well known for having a large population of students living there. This past week those students have been moving out and all hell has broken loose.
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Now let me stop here and say that I think university students bring an awful lot to this city. The strengthening of Liverpool's universities and the subsequent influx of those coming here to study in recent decades has been a pivotal part of the city's renaissance. These people are crucial to the economic and social future of this place - and many of them act and behave responsibly.
But walking the streets of Wavertree this week, it's clear that something needs to change.
The people living in those streets, who have grown up there, who have built their lives there, who are raising their children there, deserve much, much better than to live amongst filth deposited by those who display a worrying lack of thought for their neighbours.
One video published by the ECHO this week highlighted this deeply unfortunate attitude held by some of those who have made these parts of the city their temporary home.
In the clip, a young man can be seen carrying a pile of bedding along the street. When he gets to a point outside a neighbour's home, he looks around and simply drops the bedding in the middle of the pavement before scampering away.
The footage was captured on a doorbell camera by a long-term neighbour who then had to move the discarded waste into a bin. The young man has since moved out of the area that he showed such little regard for.
It is certainly not every student in these areas that acts like this, but looking around at the scenes in Wavertree this week - it is more than just a few.
The residents I spoke to told me of a breakdown in community coherence that has added to the problems. One said that students used to stop for a chat with long-term neighbours or check in on the elderly members of the street. "They won't even say hello now," she added.
It doesn't take much to work out that a young person who displays no interest in being part of a community throughout the year will pay little heed to the state they leave that community in when they move out at the end of the year.
This needs to change and the onus is on the universities themselves to try and drive home the message that when you move into the streets of Liverpool - you are part of a community and you need to act like that.. This work is ongoing but clearly it needs to be ramped up as a new cohort make these streets their home in the autumn.
Of course there is a wider issue at play here. Properties on these streets have been gobbled up by greedy, out-of-town developers like hot cakes. These landlords have gutted what were once family homes and packed in as many rooms as physically possible in order to bring in large amounts of rent from the student population.
And while these landlords are quick to carry out these works and get their many rent-paying tenants inside, they seem far less keen to be on hand to ensure that the surrounding community is not affected by problems created in their properties or by those living in them.
We know that landlords tell their tenants that they must clear their properties of all their items or they could be fined or lose deposits - but we don't see the property owners renting out skips to make this process more practical.
It's clear what damage the proliferation of Houses of Multiple Occupancy have done to communities like Wavertree as well as other parts of the city like Kensington. For a long time developers could turn a family home into a cramped, 7-bed house share without even having to get planning permission from the council.
In 2021 the local authority brought in an Article 4 directive which means that in certain parts of the city, planning permission must now be obtained to convert a property into a HMO for three-or-more people. It's a positive, practical change and it may help other areas from falling into HMO chaos - but for most people on the streets of Wavertree, the damage has already been done.
So the priority now is on trying to make the best of the situation they are in and for that they need all the city's agencies to work together.
This week Liverpool City Council, Merseyside Police and the region's crime commissioner held a day of action tackling anti-social behaviour in the area. This adds to ongoing work aimed at educating those moving in and their landlords of their responsibilities to the local community. The local MP Paula Barker has also been active on this issue for a while now and local councillors have provided skips to try and deal with some of the mess.
That's all positive - but it needs to go further. I think there needs to be more enforcement across the board. If someone is seen dumping rubbish or fly-tipping they should be fined, if landlords aren't keeping up with their social responsibilities they should be fined. After all they have profited wildly from the changes they have brought to places like Wavertree.
It was hard to hear the desperation in the voices of the long-term residents I spoke to this week. They feel frustrated, depressed and disrespected. It's important that everyone does everything possible to prevent them feeling like this going forward.
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