Concerned residents says rats from ex-Blackpool DWP office Mexford House are plaguing their homes
“We’ve had dead rats which have been left on the street and some of my neighbours say they hear them under their floorboards.”
Residents living close to a huge former civil service office which is being transformed into flats say they are suffering from an outbreak of rats.
And they fear the rodents are coming from Mexford House, the one-time DWP office where work on the site is still ongoing.
The site, on Mexford Avenue in North Shore, was home to the DWP civil service offices until its closure in 2009.
In June 2024, a planning application for the “use of premises as 120 self contained flats with associated parking, access, bike store and bin store” was approved by planners at Blackpool Council, with a number of conditions.
That large-scale project is still ongoing on behalf of the owners, the Manchester-based Mexford Group, and residents believe the more recent site clearance has disturbed the rats.
In the past month, residents say they have been shocked by large numbers of rats, some of which have been killed by local cats, but others which can be heard under people’s floorboards.
One of the residents, a mother with young children, said: “We have all noticed the rats and we are worried sick - the whole area is experiencing issues.
“We’ve had dead rats which have been left on the street and some of my neighbours say they hear them under their floorboards.
“We know how much damage rats can cause - they can chew through wire and cause a fire and then there are the health implications.
“Some of the neighbours on Mexford Avenue have had to put traps down and they are finding them everyday in their house and can hear them running through each house and scratching.
“The local cats are playing with them killing them and then leaving them all over the road. One dead rat was lying on the pavement for days.”
The mum said she has contacted Blackpool’s environmental health department but the council say they have had no record of complaints.
A couple living nearby on Mexford Avenue with their young children are just a short distance from the former DWP site and say they have rats running in the space above their bay window and have a trap in their kitchen.
The mum said: "We never had this before. We believe the work being carried out has disturbed the rats and they've fled this way."
The current flats project at Mexford House replaced an earlier application which involved a smaller number of flats, some 78 apartments, reduced from a still earlier scheme for 87 homes.
Planning documents showed the building would retain its three floors under the new plans, with each floor containing a variety of flats.
The Mexford Group was approached for a comment.