Rat infestation Councillor calls for action on pest ‘nightmare’ at flats
ABRISLINGTON council estate could be infested with rats, a councillor fears.
Two mums say their upstairs flats – in buildings metres apart – have both been infiltrated by rodents in recent months.
Siobhan Knight, mum of two young children, claims she has been seeing rats three or four times a day in her Whitmore Avenue home.
And a woman who until recently lived on the same estate has spoken out on her “living nightmare” with rats.
Brislington East Councillor Tony Carey has voiced concerns over the design of flats in the neighbourhood, as well as criticising Bristol City Council’s response to Ms Knight’s “shocking situation”.
“I know that my family would not tolerate this apparent inaction by the council and, I suspect, neither would yours,” the Lib Dem wrote to a council housing services officer.
Ms Knight, 21, says she first noticed rats in her one-bedroom flat more than a month ago and finds droppings in her kitchen every day. She fears for the health of her two-year-old Bailey and six-month-old Riley.
She says a pest controller told her last month the issue would “definitely” be ongoing because the empty flat adjoining hers was not cleared by the council when its tenant moved out, and rats had been gnawing their way through the wall in between.
The second woman the Post spoke to lived in a Broomhill Road council flat until August, just metres from Ms Knight’s home.
The 25-year-old, who wished to remain anonymous, says she found droppings in her kitchen every day and rats urinated on her newborn’s clothes for five months before she was rehoused.
She claims council pest controllers told her they “didn’t know what else to do” when poison failed to kill the rats, which she says had chewed a “massive hole” just below the roof guttering and entered through her attic.
Councillor Carey said: “I have looked at the problems and it would, to my untrained eye, seem to be an issue with the construction of these dwellings post the installation of exterior insulation,” he said.
“I would be interested to know how many other of the Broomhill estate dwellings have similar rat infestation problems as they are
They were peeing on my baby’s stuff. They were in one of the cupboards. It was a living nightmare Former Whitmore Avenue resident
all of a similar construction.
“There must be 300 or more council flats in the estate, prefabricated builds from the late 1950s.
“When built, this was the place to live if you were a council tenant – but over the decades, it seems the council has put this insulation in, and if there’s a breakdown, there’s now a potential for rodents to get in and get free rein.
“It might well be that we need a structural engineer to do an assessment of the estate. The council is firefighting something that will keep occurring. It’s not acting proactively.”
Mr Carey raised questions over the council’s management of the flat next to Ms Knight’s.
“As I understand things, the neighbouring property was left uncleansed for whatever reason for many weeks and the rats effectively had free roam devouring what food they could find in there,” he said.
“All it needed was a pregnant female to get in there. The food seems to have run out, leaving a honking great family of rodents on the hunt for food.”
The second woman the Post spoke to, whose three children are aged from seven months to eight years, said she contacted the council about the rodent problem in March but it worsened over the following months, she added.
She said: “I would hear them in the bedroom walls, and in the kitchen at night time.
“They were peeing on my baby’s stuff. They were in one of the cupboards. I saw one in the bedroom once. It ran across.
“It was a living nightmare, with my two boys and being pregnant with my daughter, especially during lockdown.”
After being placed in Band One, the highest-priority category on the waiting list, she and her family were able to move into a new home in August.
Councillor Carey said: “Ms Knight has, metaphorically speaking, Covid-19 knocking at the front door and Weil’s disease knocking at the back door.
“With a very small baby and a toddler to care for, this is the very last thing she needs. We need get this young lady and her family out. I think it’s wrong that she is not in Band One. It’s not right to keep her in substandard housing. If had to rely on the council, what I wouldn’t want is be given a dwelling like this.”
A council spokesman promised quick action to address the issues at Ms Knight’s flat.
He said: “Pest infestations are a deeply unpleasant experience that have a clear negative impact on the safety and wellbeing of tenants. Our aim is to take action as quickly as possible and in this case we have assessed the issues and are taking action this week to fix some of the damage.
“Further inspections will be carried out to assess the scale of the issue and we’re working with tenants to ensure the surrounding areas are maintained to deter pests.
“We are not aware of any other pest issues involving properties in this area but any residents who have concerns about pests in their homes can report it to pest. control@bristol.gov.uk or 0117 9222500.”