Fly-tipping, vandalism and drug fears blight Leicester's Hospital Close

Fly-tipping and vandalism are a common sight

Residents are calling for urgent improvements to an estate they say has been left to rot.

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust decided it could not afford to upgrade homes on Hospital Close in Leicester in 2019 and moved people out.

Leicester City Council bought the street for £10.5m in March and said it would spend more than £3m bringing the homes back into use.

Remaining residents say drug addicts and vandals are blighting the area.

The street, close to Leicester General Hospital in Evington, was previously used to house NHS workers and their families but most properties currently sit vacant.

Most of the properties are unoccupied

One of the few remaining residents, a 38-year-old single mother, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service empty properties were being attacked, leaving people in the community feeling unsafe.

She said necessary repairs had not been carried out by either the trust or the council over a number of years.

"We are the forgotten residents of Hospital Close," she said.

"There's a lot of stuff going on and we're not feeling very safe in our properties right now.

"It's just become an environment for everyone who thinks there's just not residents on the street."

• Latest news and stories from the East Midlands

Another resident, a teacher who has lived on the close for two-and-a-half years, said the street was used by drug addicts, joyriders, fly-tippers and squatters who know the majority of the houses are empty.

"At night, when you come home and you've got no street lights outside your properties and you know there's drug addicts around and people living in the empty buildings, drug deals, it's scary and nobody cares," she said.

A spokesman for Leicester City Council said the authority was currently arranging for 24-hour security in the area.

"We fully sympathise with the problems residents at Hospital Close are facing and we are working hard to tackle them as quickly as possible," he said.