|
|
 |
| |
Michael Blaws pictured next to the pile of rubbish |
I smell a rat! Two weeks of rubbish vanish after Tribune steps in
FOR two long weeks 60 bags of stinking rat-infested rubbish lay uncollected on an Angel council estate – until the Tribune got involved.
Angry tenants on the Brookfield House estate had given up complaining to Islington Council and decided to contact local housing campaigner Dr Brian Potter.
Dr Potter was “appalled” by the festering rubbish piled high in a yard in Halton Street and rang our newsroom.
On Wednesday afternoon, word had apparently got back to cleansing operatives that the Tribune was on its way. The rubbish was cleared by a team of men just 20 minutes before our reporter and photographer arrived on the scene.
Tenant Michael Blaws, 65, a retired steel fixer, said that with just two large dustbins for 15 flats the storage of rubbish on the estate is often a problem.
“We’ve asked for more bins but they won’t provide them,” he said. “The problem is that they don’t always pick it up every week. Often it’s every fortnight.
“With the recent warm weather the rubbish really started to smell. I saw rats and flies crawling among the black plastic sacks.”
Mr Blaws thanked Dr Potter and the Tribune for coming to his aid.
“I was getting very worried,” he said. “People were complaining about the smell but the council weren’t listening. Thankyou Dr Potter and the Islington Tribune.”
Dr Potter, chairman of the Federation of Islington Tenants Associations (FITA), said: “When I saw the rubbish I couldn’t believe it. The smell was absolutely appalling.”
A council spokespman said that Enterprise, the contractors who carry out refuse collections for the borough, have made some crew changes recently which unfortunately led to Brookfield House being left off the normal weekly collection schedule last week.
The spokesman added: “I can understand this must have been inconvenient for the residents affected and as soon as we were made aware of the situation, the rubbish was immediately collected. All properties in Islington have at least one rubbish collection a week and our Street Environment Services will be monitoring the schedule closely next week to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” |
 |
|
|
|
Your comments:
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
