'My once beautiful Birmingham area is covered by 10ft mountain of fly-tipped rubbish'

Birmingham residents have spoken of their anger at living on a 'disgusting' street where a giant 10ft (3m) mountain of fly-tipped rubbish has blocked people from accessing their own homes.

Locals living near Slade Road, in Stockland Green, claim the fly-tipping problem is now "completely out of control" and making life "a misery" as council bosses struggle to tackle the issue blighting the second city.

Photos show the huge mountain of dumped trash, including fridges, mattresses and furniture, which now towers over people's garden fences and has partially blocked access to homes amid the ongoing bin strikes.

Raj Arjan, 34, said the nearby area has also been infested with rats and whenever the rubbish has been previously removed it appears again over night. 

He said: "There's people who can't get to their homes that way, it has completely blocked access. People have dumped rubbish there for a long time but I've never known it this bad. There's rats running about all over the place. Whenever it has been cleared before, it pops back up overnight.

"These fly-tippers just seem to act outside the law, maybe they know they are unlikely to be caught as the whole city has a problem with it which the council just can't keep on top of."

Three weeks ago, the Unite union revealed members voted to extend industrial action past May's local elections and into September, with no end in sight to the dispute.

Raj added: "The issue is completely out of control. How can we be expected to live like this - it's just absolutely grim. The strikes have made it worse, I just can't see how we'll recover as long as the dispute keeps going. We're caught in a vicious cycle."

The issue has been blamed on a combination of current tenants dumping their rubbish along with those from outside the community driving to do the same.

Patricia Burton, who lives nearby, said: "I grew up in the area and can remember playing in the alley as a little girl.

“The community did come together previously to tidy this up but since then this is how it's been looking and we're fed up of it. We've had enough and it's not fair. It's to do with the landlords and whoever lives in the back of these shops. Then there's other people coming in from outside the community and dumping their stuff, so we're not happy. I can't even access my back gates.

"I'm just glad I look after my mum and she is not able to come out here to see how disgusting it is and see how the beautiful area they moved into has been turned into this."

Malik Abbas, 40, who works at a nearby Dixy Chicken, said:  "I've been working here three years and there's been a problem there since day one, but it has just got worse.

“Cars come and pull up at any time of the day and night and just dump literally anything and everything. We've had fridges, mattresses, cardboard boxes - sometimes it gets partially cleared and then it happens again. There is no deterrent, they just keep coming back. You complain to the local councillors and they just do absolutely nothing.

"There's a couple of flats there who have had their access completely blocked off. It is not very nice to work by."

One resident, who only gave his name as David, said: "There was a little group of volunteers who tried to tidy it up with some support from the council. But the council have also cleared it a couple of times despite it not technically belonging to them as its private land. The council always says it's private land, speak to the homeowners but they are mainly house shares and HMOs so they haven't done anything.

"Personally I think the issue is that as they are all tenants' houses, it's easier just for the tenants to throw their rubbish there instead of paying the council £45 to come and collect it. The tenants who live above the shops have nowhere really to put their rubbish and the landlords do not have disposal licences with the council. Its just cheaper to fly-tip it themselves. I'm not sure what the solution is."

The pile of rubbish at the back of Slade Road also includes cupboards, clothing and many other household and industrial items.

Raj Chonk used to live in one of the flats affected but has since moved out of the area due to the fly-tipping problem there.

He said: "We've had rats and the smell of pollution as the water company couldn't access the drains. It was horrendous, especially in the summer time. Once it gets clean a little bit and you look out the window and it's full again. It has been like this on and off for the last two years, when all the drains get stuck you can imagine what's that like.

"We couldn't stand living like that and moved away. All they need to do is put some gates up really and a camera that would be a deterrent."

Birmingham City Council said its crews cleared hundreds of fly-tipping sites each week and it was committed to prosecuting people who were responsible.

Councillor Majid Mahmood, the council's cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “Fly-tipping harms where we all have to live and work and is carried out by environmental criminals that have no regard for our neighbourhoods or their well-being.

“When fly-tipping occurs, we act as quickly as possible. Our crews clear hundreds of fly-tipping reports each week; this is in addition to the work our neighbourhood crews undertake to clean up across the city.

“Everyone needs to play their part in maintaining a clean environment. We have plenty of lawful options for people to responsibly dispose of waste or unwanted items. 

"We are committed to prosecuting fly-tippers whenever possible, and we encourage residents to provide reports and evidence for us to do so.”