Residents living on a new Welsh housing estate say they don’t open their windows due to bins overflowing on to the streets directly outside their homes. People living at Lysaght village in Newport, which was constructed from 2013 onwards, say they have watched people pull up outside their homes and dump unwanted items such as lawn mowers, beds and hoovers in their bins.
The situation has become so out of hand in the communal bin areas near the Margaret Brown House building on the modern-looking estate that people living there have spotted rodents scurrying through the discarded furniture. They say they face an especially “disgusting” scene when seagulls rip bins open on bin collection day.
United Welsh Housing oversees the management of the estate. Craig Goodman, 46, who has lived on the estate for seven years, said: “We have a big problem with fly-tipping in our bin shed. Why is nothing ever done to help? I’ve been in contact with United Welsh about this problem for over two years now.
"In all fairness, in the past they have responded promptly by getting our bin shed emptied. However, as the bin sheds no longer have lockable gates fitted, anyone and everyone seems to throw their s*** in our shed when Newport tip is around the corner, not outside our flats."
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Homeowners said the current state of the area is "particularly bad" compared to previous years. “As you can see, this is a haven for rats, cats, dogs, seagulls, and other vermin to feed from," Craig continued. "People actually live here, and I am personally embarrassed and ashamed of the s*** outside, and hardly any of it is from us residents.
"The council bin men won’t touch it, and I don’t blame them. Neither would I. We get charged for it being cleaned up, and it’s not even from our own doing.”
One resident, aged 34, who has lived on the estate for six years with her daughter, said the dumping has got worse in recent months. “I have lived here for six years and it’s always been the same,” she told WalesOnline. “We end up paying for it through service charges. Each flat has four sheds with bins at the end of the road and all of the time they are overloaded with s***. The rubbish is now scattered across the road in car parking spaces. It’s beyond a joke.
“I hate inviting my mum and dad over because of it. My friend’s tyre has been popped because of broken glass on the floor. The rubbish is right above my daughter’s bedroom window and my window. We don’t open the windows because of this. Last summer it was horrible between the smell and flies.”
On Tuesday morning some of the waste had even overflowed onto the road, with tissues and cardboard boxes strewn over the estate. “I am worried for my health and my daughter’s health,” the mother continued.
“If they put lockable doors on the bins again the problem would probably be sorted,” Craig added. “It’s embarrassing at the moment. We need it sorted because as soon as it’s cleaned it all starts again.”
Another resident, who rents a flat in the building closest to the rubbish, said: “It’s ridiculous and has been for years. It’s never changed. I have Asperger’s syndrome and I need things to be clean and organised. To see that outside my window every day really affects me. It annoys the hell out of me.”
A spokesperson for United Welsh said: "The health, safety and wellbeing of our residents and the communities that we operate in is our number one priority. We regularly check communal areas and bin stores at our properties, with issues promptly dealt with as they are identified by staff or reported to us.
"The misuse of the bin area and the volume of fly-tipping happening in this specific location has on this occasion led to the council being unable to collect the refuse on their routine rounds. Our staff placed an instruction with a waste removal contractor to remove said waste last week. Since then, further waste, some of which is believed to be from residents not living in United Welsh accommodation, has added to the problem.
“The first collection of the waste occurred yesterday and the second collection is happening today. Further work is underway, with partner agencies and our residents to provide longer-lasting solutions to this problem.”
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