Street '˜blighted' by fly tipping menace

Michael Spec, 63, put his Ashton Road home up for sale nine months ago in the hope of moving into a ground-floor flat to accommodate his wife, Kathleen Wray, 61, who suffers from arthritis and struggles to climb the stairs.

But he says prospective buyers are being put off by people dumping rubbish bags in a nearby alleyway.

Mr Spec, who works as a decorator, said: “I’ve had people come to look. They get out of their cars, look across the road and leave straight away. If you wanted to buy a house and you saw that over the road, you wouldn’t want to live there. That’s happened four times.

“The fly tipping problem has been going on for months. I phone the council and they come and clean it up, but they just come back.

“It’s black bags filled with rubbish, old kebabs and doner meat. If you’ve got a windy day, all that is on my doorstep because the alley is like a funnel when the wind blows down it.

“It’s making me feel very stressed and angry. The council can’t stop them. You might as well be banging your head against a wall.

“Get some CCTV cameras up and we’ll soon catch them. Everyone on the street is sick of it. It isn’t right. People shouldn’t have to live like this in this day and age. I have lived here 29 years. It used to be a lovely place to live.”

In a statement, the council said: “We are aware of fly-tipping incidents and do have a full time team that works hard to monitor the area on a regular basis to keep it tidy.

“People can report fly-tipping on the council’s website and if the report is on land under Blackpool Council’s control, it will be investigated and cleared as soon as possible.”

Drugs raids were also carried out in the street, off Central Drive, earlier this month.