Residents were “swimming in rubbish” after inconsiderate parking resulted in the bins being left uncollected for a month.
Vehicles parked poorly on Richmond Street in Neath, Wales meant that recycling lorries were unable to access the road and pick up the rubbish.
Most recently, the waste was left uncollected for four weeks, with doorsteps quickly overflowing with piles of boxes and bin bags and residents unable to walk down the pavement.
Neath Port Talbot Council has said that a collection has since been carried out.
A parking row has left a street 'swimming in rubbish' after a month of no bin collections
Wales Online - Charlotte McNaught
One resident, who has lived on the street for over seven years, said that people are fed up with the constant mess.
Charlotte Mcnaught explained: “This problem has been going on back and forth for years but this is the worst it has been with us going four weeks without a recycling collection."
“We're just swimming in rubbish when it gets to that point. The outside is full, the inside is full, and we can't walk on the pavement. It's really difficult and we would like to see something done,” she told WalesOnline.
“They've said the issue is with cars parking on the corner leaving them unable to get round to pick it up in the bigger lorry. If that is the case we would like to see the authority act by potentially by putting a bollard on the corner to stop people parking there and stopping the problem altogether.”
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Another resident said that they were worried the overflowing rubbish would lead to rats infesting the street.
They stressed that it wasn’t the bin men’s fault, stating that new measures from the council need to be in put in place in order to deal with the parking.
James Jones said: “We've asked for something like double yellow lines so we know they will be able to get down here. It is a constant problem and it's only getting worse.”
A spokesman for the local authority said: "We share the frustrations of residents in Richmond Street as our collection vehicles have been unable to obtain access recently due to inappropriate parking.
“However, we have now managed to collect waste from the street. We would appeal to motorists to be considerate when on-street parking, particularly on recycling collection days.
The council has said that a collection has since been carried out
Getty“After suffering access issues we try to re-visit at the end of shifts to collect residents’ recycling but the success of this still depends on considerate parking. Recycling wagons are heavy and wide so our drivers need to be certain they can safely travel down a street and manoeuvre before entering.”
Earlier this month, a town was plagued by an infestation of rats after rubbish was fly-tipped on a popular walking path and left there for nearly a year.
Locals on Saddlers Road, Quedgeley, complained that rats had taken an interest in the rubbish but the council were "doing absolutely nothing about it".
Gloucester City Council has since apologised for the delay in removing the rubbish which has been there since last summer.
