A LANDLADY has spoken out about mounds of ‘disgusting rat-infested’ rubbish that has been thrown into an alley near her house.

Lynn Murray said flytippers have been dumping waste in Exeter Street, Blackburn, for four years.

The 46-year-old said the waste includes broken up pieces of furniture, mattresses and household waste.

Ms Murray, who lived in the street for 20 years before renting her house out, said she is at her wits’ end because the alleyway is unadopted and Blackburn with Darwen Council does not have responsibility to clean it up.

She said: “It’s become a mess.

“I have tried to get rid of this for years and it’s getting worse.

“There’s rats in there now and it's utterly disgusting.

“I’ve tried to speak to the people who have put the rubbish there and they don’t want to know, they get aggressive.

“There’s a caravan on the street now and combined with all the rubbish it is blocking it all off.”

Unadopted roads are those roads not maintained by a highway authority as defined by Highways Act 1980. The description of such roads covers a wide range of circumstances.

For most unadopted residential roads the duty to maintain it falls to the owners of the property fronting that road, which may include those where the side, or length, of their property fronts the unadopted road.

Ms Murray said the ordeal is causing her a lot of grief and she is tempted to sell the house.

She said: “Tenants don’t want to live with that on their doorstep.

“It’s also a major fire hazard, it will only take someone to set fire to something near the back and the whole thing will go up.

“A fire engine isn’t going to fit down there so it is putting people at risk.

“I’m thinking of putting the house on the market because I have had enough.

“All the residents are tired of it.

“It’s making me depressed.”

Cllr Jim Smith, executive member for environmental services, said the council is investigating the incident.

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He said: “Unfortunately this part of Exeter Street is unadopted by the council and so the responsibility for this part of the road is with the householders on the street.

“We offer a Your Call clean-up for those residents interested in getting rid of their rubbish, with loans for equipment as well, and they can contact us for this at cleansing@blackburn.gov.uk.”