Residents in Fourth Street and the streets nearby have suffered for weeks from a rat infestation at a private property in Fourth Street. This has been made worse by unacceptable delays in response to their plight.
I first contacted the authorities to report vermin in one of the properties on 6 May having been contacted the same day by a resident concerned that the infestation would spread throughout the streets and the rest of the properties if not addressed.
As is usual in cases where private properties are the source of a vermin infestation the landlord must be alerted to the problem and be given the opportunity to correct it, and this is exactly what I asked the authorities to do.
Following several follow-up calls to the authorities over the past three weeks - including the neighbourhood wardens, the council’s private sector housing office and the authority’s pest control team - I’ve been told persistently that the landlord has been contacted. In the absence of any positive reaction from the owner of the property the assumption must be that they are either unable or unwilling to react.
My personal opinion is at this stage the authorities should be allowed to force entry to the property and tackle the vermin problem without delay - after all the right of residents to live in their homes safely and without fear of a rat infestation must surely outweigh the landlord’s right to do nothing.
However despite my persistent protests I’ve been told in no uncertain terms that the council has a legal process to follow in dealing with infestations in private properties, and that means operating within the legal framework. Members of the public will accept that the council cannot act above the law by trespassing on private property - but that’s cold comfort for residents in the surrounding area.
In order to make progress officers have confirmed that they are actively putting together a package of measures to address this problem as part of the village’s status as a Targeted Delivery Plan area: see post dated Friday 8 April 2022 for background information: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2022/04/targeted-delivery-plan-for-blackhall.html
I’ll update on progress as soon as I have more information from the service, but in the meantime residents in Fourth Street and the surrounding area can be assured that I’ll continue to press the authorities at every opportunity to expedite their response to this matter.
The people of our villages deserve a much more effective response from the authorities and those absent private-sector landlords who wilfully allow their properties to fall into disrepair - often with impunity and without any concern for the settled community.