Hucknall woman demands action over nightmare rubbish and fly-tipping problems at flats

Sandra Phillips, aged 67, lives in a flat in St Mary’s View on Ogle Street.

She says the block is being plagued by littering and fly-tipping and is now so bad, bin collections can’t take place because of the huge pile of rubbish and waste blocking the entrance to the bin store.

As a result, the large wheeled bins are overflowing with rubbish and more and more bags of rubbish are piled up all over the floor and at the entrance to the bin store, blocking the way.

Sandra says bin collectors won’t move the rubbish piled up at the door as it is not in bins and much of it has been fly-tipped.

As a result, they tell her they can’t get into the bin store and so can’t empty the bins – compounding the problem.

The flats are owned and maintained by Platform Housing Group and Sandra says she has been on to them several times about the problem.

She has also contacted Ashfield Council but they say it is private property and therefore cannot intervene.

She said: “I’ve lived here for 13 years and over the last few years there’s just been a continuous proble, with the bins, people not putting rubbish in the right place or just leaving it on the floor.

"It’s attracted rats and we can’t get into the bin store – it’s horrendous and I’m ashamed to say I live here.

"I’ve rung the council – so they know about it – but they say it’s private property.

“So I’ve rung Platform Housing, they say they’re dealing with it but they need to do more than just come when it’s really bad because it’s really bad now and this has been going on for years.

"I’ve asked them to install CCTV because we need to catch the people who are just fly-tipping.

"Sometimes it’s residents not disposing of their rubbish properly but often it’s just people from outside coming in, unloading their rubbish and driving off.”

Neil Greaves, head of localities and community safety at Platform Housing Group said: “We are sorry to hear about our customer’s concerns.

"We are working with our assets team to put a solution in place so that this does not keep reoccurring.

“Our neighbourhood officer visits weekly to organise rubbish clearance.

"We have also sent letters to all customers reminding them of how to use the bin store correctly and continue to liaise with environmental health about fly-tipping.”

Your Dispatch has also contacted the council for comment.