Residents are living in fear of a ‘plague of rats’ near a recently-built apartment block in Salford. The infestation has prompted a newly-elected Salford city councillor to raise a petition calling for the waiving of the £45 fee the authority charges households for pest control officers to deal with the issue.
Father-of-two Zubair Bassa, 34, shot video of rats running around freely in front of his Goodiers Drive, Ordsall, home. And, when the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) visited him this week, rats could be spotted around among shrubbery opposite his house and in front of a newly-build complex of 77 apartments.
Zubair, who moved in with his wife Maryani, 33, five years ago, and who now have children aged two and four, says his family are terrified to go outside in front of the house because of the rats. “We can hear squeaking sometimes,” he said.
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“When the children play out in the back garden we have to make sure our patio doors are closed to prevent the risk of them coming in the house.” Zubair says he has already had pest control officers out to deal with mice in the four-bed house.
“It’s so bad for my family, we are considering moving out,” he said. "It's a plague of rats."
His close neighbours are Feyishola Omoniyi and his wife Kehinde, both 30, and their children aged one and three. “It’s very frightening,” he said.
“What doesn’t help is the amount of shrubbery opposite our houses. We see rats running about all the time. It’s crazy. My wife and children are very frightened.”
The flats opposite have been managed by Hunters Residential Block Management on behalf of a freehold owner. A spokesperson for Hunters told the LDRS that apartments are 50 per cent owner-occupied with the other half rented. He said Hunters had only been managing the complex since February and was ‘addressing the problem’.
“But a lot [of the apartments] have been rented out as holiday lets, which is against the terms of the leases,” he said. “The leaseholders and their solicitors don’t seem to understand that you can’t just decide to rent out your flat without permission from your mortgage provider or the freeholder.
“The visitors are tending to leave rubbish strewn all over the bin area, which is attracting the rats. There is also a problem with rough sleepers getting into the bin area and rummaging through rubbish.
“We have a programme in place to deal with the rats using a private contractor. There is an old gatehouse on the site and we believe there may be a nest under there. The development may have disturbed the rats. But we have bait traps down. It’s early days, but we are hoping within a couple of months we will have dealt with the problem.”
The spokesperson said appeals for hedges and shrubbery to be cut could be counterproductive. “We have been advised that if we cut back hedges and shrubbery, the rats will run everywhere, which is not what we want," they said.
Meanwhile, Coun Grogan said that he had been receiving complaints over rat infestations in parts of Salford where there has been new development. “These areas are hotspots for fly-tipping and littering too which we're aiming to tackle as part of the long-term strategy implemented alongside the waiving of the fee,” he said.
His petition, read out at the first Salford city council meeting following the local elections on May 4, reads: “Ordsall Labour has been working with councillors from other wards about the increase in rodents that residents have been telling us about, which may have been caused by an increase in new developments around the ward and neighbouring wards.
“Currently, there is a £45 fee for the council to investigate and deal with the issue. Our petition is calling for the £45 council fee to be waived for all residents in Ordsall for a fixed period and for the council to develop a proactive strategy to deal with the issue in the problem-areas long term.”
Coun Grogan added: “We have done a paper petition across the Stowell Estate so we're just collecting the final sheets which will be submitted to the council shortly. We focused on that estate as it is the worst affected area with reports from residents about rats in their gardens, communal spaces, and even inside some houses."
Coun Barbara Bentham, lead member for environment, neighbourhoods, sports and leisure, said the petition will be considered through the usual council process. She said: “We understand residents of nearby homes are concerned about this situation which emphasises the responsibility of private sector developers and property owners to deal with rodents.
"If the management company needs any support they are welcome to contact the council. We work year-round with partner agencies to control pests proactively and support our residents and communities.
“We encourage people to report all sightings of rodents in public places to help us find where they are nesting and feeding so we can eliminate them. Reports can be made free of charge via www.salford.gov.uk/pests-nuisances-pollution-and-food-hygiene/pests-and-infestations/rats/ where there is also prevention advice.”
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