'Our rubbish-strewn road is making us depressed'

Michael Eaton said the rubbish was attracting rats

Residents on a street in Nottingham are calling for the city council to tackle an "awful lot of rubbish" that has built up on the access road to their homes.

Michael Eaton, who has lived on Lawson Street in Hyson Green for 36 years, said the situation was "pretty horrible".

He said poor parking made it difficult for bin lorries to get through, which led to missed collections, and there was persistent fly-tipping.

Nottingham City Council's Community Protection Team said it was aware of issues in the location but fly-tipping concerns were not being reported properly.

"I really like this area, I like the atmosphere, it's very close to the tram, but rubbish makes us depressed," Mr Eaton told the BBC.

Empty beer boxes, rubbish bags, and general litter can be seen across the street

The 71-year-old author said he had reported fly-tipping via the council's website multiple times over the past year but it had taken months each time for it to be cleared up.

"It does seem to be one of those streets where people think they can illegally fly-tip and nobody will see them," he said.

"They can dump it and leave their rubbish on our doorsteps."

He wants the council to install CCTV to deter would-be fly-tippers.

"We try and do our best [to keep it clean] but I'm not going to go scrabbling through filthy rubbish," he said.

Emily Pellicci said the lack of action from the city council had been "frustrating"

Emily Pellicci, a student who also lives on the street, said it was "constantly messy".

She said she had contacted the council three times over missed bin collections since moving in but had been ignored each time.

"It's annoying, especially when you pay a significant amount of money to rent, and you expect the upkeep, and you're doing all the right things like taking the bins out," she said.

"Maybe some students don't take it as seriously, but we want to live in a nice clean area the same as everyone else does."

'Engage with us'

Nottingham City Council said it had not received a report of fly-tipping on Lawson Street since April 2024 because it had not been reported through the "official channels".

This is disputed by Mr Eaton, who provided the BBC with a reference number and e-mail correspondence for a complaint he made in September which said it would be passed on to the Community Protection team.

A council spokesperson said: "Our cleansing teams also collect unreported fly-tips as they find them, which might have been the case here.

"The Community Protection team are interested in engaging with the residents who have come forward to better understand the issues occurring and what can be done to help the area."

The authority has also been approached about the issues with bin collections.