'Fly-tipped waste is bringing rats to our street'

Councillor Andrew Waller said the amount of waste fly-tipped in the car park on Front Street had increased

A councillor has begged for action to be taken after rubbish fly-tipped at a notorious dumping spot began attracting rats.

The waste has been left around overflowing recycling bins in a car park at the Morrisons store in Acomb, York.

Local resident Craig Smith said the fly-tipping had been a problem for years and bin bags often split, attracting vermin.

City of York Council said there were plans to put more skips at the site along with signs warning against fly-tipping, but that the landowners were responsible for clearing the waste.

Liberal Democrat councillor Andrew Waller called on the council to address the issue, which he said was getting worse.

Waller said broken furniture was now being left in the car park along with other rubbish, including waste paper.

Ms Lyon said fly-tipping on public land, highways and riverbanks was "cleared as soon as possible"

Mr Smith, who has lived on adjacent Lowfield Drive for 12 years, said he had seen washing machines, fridges, car body parts and "an endless amount of other items" dumped there.

He added: "I've seen a couple of rats, including one dead in the car park.

"I had a rat in my garden about a month ago and that was the final straw, my wife's since seen one there – it's disgusting."

Waller confirmed efforts to get the council to intervene were "ongoing" and said CCTV was needed to help with enforcement.

"All this fly-tipping has added to the demands on the council's caged van teams who have a huge amount of material to remove on top of the other needs to respond to fly-tipping," he said.

Labour councillor Emily Nelson has urged anyone with information about the fly-tipping to come forward

Tanya Lyon, the council's community safety manager, said fly-tipping was taken "very seriously" with perpetrators fined up to £1,000 or prosecuted.

She said the council was working alongside its waste disposal company to put warning signs on the recycling bins and the viability of installing CCTV was also being considered.

She added: "On private land, fly-tipping will be investigated, but landowners are responsible for clearance."

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said it understood Morrisons had been in contact with the council over the issue, but the supermarket chain had declined to comment further.

Meanwhile, councillor Emily Nelson, Labour's ward member for Westfield, said anyone with information that could help with taking action against the fly-tipping should come forward.

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.