A woman claims she's struggling to sleep due to rats crawling through her walls as she slams the "horrendous" fly-tipping.
Roxy Ruane bought her own home in 2018 but it wasn't the dream life she thought it would be. Moving to Bartlett Street, Wavertree, Roxy has slammed the shameful mounds of rubbish thrown across the streets as she urged people to respect where they live.
The ECHO has previously reported on Roxy's campaign for cleaner streets as she said residents in the community are "living in squalor". But she said the situation is a vicious cycle that is not improving.
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Speaking to the ECHO, Roxy said: "Rats have now got into our walls and are scratching at them. We go to sleep, we go to get our heads down at 10pm and you hear scratching and scurrying.
"It doesn't make you feel comfortable in your own home. It's not just once in a blue moon, this is near enough every day. To get away I'll go to the toilet, I can't sleep I need a break from the noise.
"We've put bait boxes down, wire wool, everything you can think of we've done it all. As we were coming down the stairs I saw what I thought was rubbish but it moved, it was a cockroach. We are getting more vermin and it's because of the rubbish.
"It feels like we are playing catch up to make our house adequate and no-one cares at all."
Roxy said there is a "community war" that means fly-tipping is "out of control" and despite rubbish being collected on a Monday and additional collections on a Tuesday, "more needs to be done".
A spokesperson for Liverpool City Council said: "The city council takes fly-tipping extremely seriously and we thank residents who not only dispose of their rubbish responsibly, but report incidents to us. Residents can report fly tipping online at the council website or via community wardens in their area, and we urge everyone to log these incidents as soon as possible.
"In terms of the complaints relating to Picton, we have an enforcement team operating three days a week who are working to educate residents and issue fixed penalty notices when required. We have an upcoming day of action in the area, which will see an increased presence targeting poor waste management from both residential and commercial properties.
"We are also continuing to assess a number of options to address the issues blighting the area, such as communal euro bins which have proven successful in other communities."
The ECHO previously reported that Liverpool Council will now consider cases of dumped waste and fly-tipping around the city as "crime scenes" in a major new crackdown. Dressed in crime scene tape, the highly visual approach is being used to highlight the cost and to remind residents they are breaking the law if they dump materials in public locations.
But Roxy said for her street, they need regular fines handed out and CCTV cameras and patrols. She added: "The neighbours think it will get cleaned anyway because the council will collect it and so they keep doing it. It's annoying and it's disheartening.
"Our house is lovely and you have a nice community but then you see stuff like that and it knocks you down a peg or two. People are moving because of it. A couple recently engaged found three rats, it's not on and I'm contacting the council but it's constant."
The ECHO asked Liverpool City Council just how many fly-tipping reports have been received in recent years and how many fines have been issued. Freedom of Information data has revealed that for the council to remove fly-tipped waste, it costs around £780k annually.
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