From Selly Oak to ‘Smelly Oak’ as departing students’ rubbish piles up
AN astonishing 100 tonnes of rotting waste, discarded furniture and used mattresses have been collected from the streets of Selly Oak as students head home for summer.
The annual getaway of thousands of undergraduates triggered a dramatic rise in rubbish left to fester on pavements in the area.
Broken furniture, cardboard boxes and bags of waste have been left piled on street corners, while used mattresses are propped against homes and bins overflow with household rubbish.
But councillors stressed not all the blame lay with students – with some landlords known to be dumping junk on the streets.
Extra bin crews have been drafted in to deal with the soaring levels of rubbish, which residents say coincide every year with the mass exodus of students.
It once led to the area being dubbed ‘Smelly Oak’, and locals have again stressed the area ‘stinks’.
Cllr Brigid Jones, who represents Bournbrook and Selly Park, has revealed 100 tonnes of waste had been collected in a matter of days and ‘the rubbish keeps coming’.
“Our streets are still filthy. We picked up 100 tons of waste over the last few days, but as quickly as we pick it up, more comes out,” Cllr Jones said in a video posted on Twitter. “We need people to be mindful of what they are throwing away and how they are throwing it away. You might have moved out but there are still people living here.”
Cllr Jones said the city council was looking at bringing in mandatory landlord licensing to drive up standards – but the government keeps ‘stopping local authorities from doing it’.
Cllr Karen McCarthy, who also represents Bournbrook and Selly Park, added: “Obviously this date has been in the diary for some time and we’ve had extra crews out ready to clear up, but as fast as the streets have been cleared more waste has been coming out. We know some of this waste came onto the streets after the keys were handed in, so we know it was the landlords and people working for the landlords.”
Most of the houses in the affected roads are now empty and up for let.
But some students still living in the area off Bristol Road said they were ‘ashamed’ of what had been left behind.