A FABULOUS FEAST – FOR RATS!
Vermin ‘running wild’ in alley off street featured on hit BBC TV show
RATS are running wild in a city alley – where one woman claims she sees them most mornings.
Jacquie Morris, of Portland Street, Hanley, also says she is reporting flytipping every week – with mattresses, shopping trolleys full of rubbish and sofas among items dumped in the area.
She spoke out as alley gates are left unlocked and fly-tipping warning signs ignored. Her comments come just weeks after Portland Street was featured on the BBC show Fabulous Feasts, presented by Andi Oliver. The Portland Inn Project, which is transforming the old Portland Inn, was this month awarded £400,000 by Arts Council England. Jacquie said: “I’ve got two rat traps out
there.i keep doing that because it’s that time of year, they’re nesting again. I go out every morning at around 6.30am because
I’ve got dogs to walk. If there is rubbish in that alleyway, nine times out of 10 you see rats scuttling around.
For a city centre road it’s diabolical.”
Jacquie says it takes ‘a couple of weeks’ for Stoke-ontrent City Council to clear the rubbish she reports. She added: “Meanwhile it’s all blown down the street and then they clean it and then the residents up there dump more.
“There is another load in the first alleyway, there is a load of rubbish in another, and the rest had blown down the road from the last lot they didn’t clear. I’m sick of reporting it.”
Kevin Walker said: “People pay no attention to the warnings. I know a lot of the rubbish is being left by people who live around here. What happened to taking pride in your area?” Jo Chipps added: “It drags the area down.”
The Sentinel has approached the city council for comment.