VIDEO: “Even the rats weren’t surviving”

Fly tipping around Doncaster sees residents hit breaking point

Fly tipping in Doncaster has caused residential uproar as, despite an injection of over £460,000, there has been a lack of council intervention to tackle the issue.

Residents say large piles of waste have accumulated in the alleyways around Hexthorpe, Wheatley, Balby, and Hyde Park, and with it has come an incursion of rodents.

Nicci Bentley, 47, a full time university student living in Doncaster said: “The incredible amount of garbage was affecting the mental health of my friend who lives there.

“I went to Hexthorpe to see it for myself and it was absolutely disgusting. Dirty nappies mixed with food, mattresses, and dead rats. Even the rats weren’t surviving.”

Martin Gayler, 35, bar manager, lived in Hexthorpe for nine years and said it was the worst place he ever lived in.

He said: “My children were playing on the trampoline and they could see rats running around my neighbor’s garden. It was rats galore.

“It was in that much of a state, and there was a smell.”

Mr Gayler shared that at one point the council had placed big bins at the end of alleyways for residents to place excess garbage, but instead the bins were lit on fire and misused.

Doncaster council claimed the recent injection of money was being used to hire extra staff, vehicles, enforcement equipment, and CCTV.

Chris Nowak, 68, retired Doncaster resident said, “The CCTV footage is only reviewed if someone from the council requests to see it.

“They keep the recordings for three months then delete them. Unless things are monitored and reviewed 24/7, the problem will never go away.”

He added the council has attempted to send letters in multiple languages to residents in these affected areas to try and educate them on proper waste disposal.

“This is a good thing, but it needs to be followed up.

“I don’t know of a single councillor who has actually been out there and said ‘Look there’s a load of rubbish outside your front door, where has it come from and who put it there?’” He said.

Mr Nowak said he spent many months showing up at council meetings to ask questions about this problem, and despite them saying they will address the issue, it continues to be a never ending cycle.

He also mentioned how his retirement gave him the time to go on walks to those areas and speak to the residents himself.

“Many of the pensioners want to move out of those areas but can’t sell because the value of their homes have decreased so significantly. They also have no confidence in the council.

“I started getting really depressed about it, so my wife told me to stop going there because I was worried 24 hours a day when I shouldn’t have been,” He said.

To properly tackle the issue, Doncaster residents have said the council should identify and properly prosecute those who are responsible to the fullest extent the law allows.