Neath Gardens: Leeds residents complain as overflowing bins leave area 'like a landfill' with 'rats all over'

A resident of Neath Gardens - where three maisonettes share the same bins - said that there were "rats running all over" after the bins were left uncollected for five weeks.

They said it had been a recurring issue for the last five years and that it is exacerbated because of the poor parking on the resents' car park that stops bin wagons from accessing the refuse site.

The council collected the bin bags left outside at Neath Gardens - situated between Gipton and Seacroft - on Tuesday morning (January 9) and a spokesperson said that it is trying to work around the access problems.

The resident of Neath Gardens, who has remained anonymous, spoke to the YEP on Monday before the bins were collected, saying: "The car park is way too small for the amount of people that live here so what happens is the bin wagon can't get in. There's no lines in the carpark so people just go wherever there's a gap and it gets rammed.

"Our bins haven't been emptied since before Christmas so out the back of my block it's like a landfill.

"Once they bins are full the residents have nowhere to put them except on the floor. It's absolutely disgusting."

They said they had contacted the council multiple times over the weeks but they remained uncollected.

They added: "We shouldn't have to live like this. We pay a portion of our council tax to the council to empty our bins and we are not getting that service.

"And I'm sorry but it's a health and safety thing. There's rats running all over. You daren't open your door to put any more rubbish out."

They added: "I've lived here for 34 years and I've never known it as bad as its been in the past two years. It used to be emptied three times a week now its once a week."

They said that the council bin bags outside of the bins on Tuesday but those that were inside, adding: "If a bin wagon doesn't come today or tomorrow then it will just build up on the floor again.

"At the end of the day the council can't expect us to live with that amount of rubbish outside our property."

A Leeds City Council spokesperson said: “We are aware of occasional access problems to the communal bin stores at Neath Gardens caused by parked cars creating an obstruction for the wagon and crews, and we have recently reminded residents to park appropriately.

"Should access problems such as this prevent us emptying bins, where resources allow we will make a further attempt within 48 hours to safely access these streets.

“The black and green bins at Neath Gardens are both currently scheduled for weekly collections, which is twice as often as usual.”