Fly-tipped waste is blight on St Albans shopping precinct

The one bin for four residential properties in French Row which is often overflowing due to fly-tipping (Image: Archant)

The manager of Christopher Place, Catherine Morris, has criticised St Albans district council for failing to tackle the unsightly mess left dumped on a weekly basis behind residential flats along Market Place.

People living in apartments above businesses in the historic street share just one bin, provided by the authority.

While the bin has been located out-of-view behind Market Place shops, on land attached to Christopher Place, it is not the shopping precinct’s responsibility to either provide or maintain it.

Yet, Catherine is bombarded with complaints about rubbish spilling out and being dumped near it.

Rubbish is being fly-tipped around the residents' sole bin, behind flats at French Row (Image: Photo supplied)

She said: “I’m always phoning the council about it, but no one can be bothered to deal with it properly, despite it being a problem for five years. There have even been maggots there – I don’t know what to do.

“It shouldn’t be my problem.”

A resident confirmed the constant stream of fly-tipped waste, telling the Herts Advertiser: “I have noticed people coming in and dumping rubbish there. It’s disgusting.”

The woman, who did not want to be named, has scrubbed around the bin with bleach, after seeing crawling maggots “because of rotting food left there for a week”.

She said that apart from the council failing to empty the bin regularly, the problem was exacerbated by the fact that residents had not been provided with recycling facilities, despite asking the authority.

The woman added: “There is just one bin for four flats. I have told the council about it, as it is absolutely disgusting; you can smell the decaying rubbish.”

Richard Shwe, the council’s head of community services, said the authority would try to solve the problem.

He added: “We will be providing recycling bins and monitor them closely to ensure they are not being misused by passersby.

“The location of the current bin means that it is being used by people other than the residents it is meant for. We are looking at supplying alternative waste containers to stop that from happening.”

There have also been problems with rubbish - including a fridge - being fly-tipped near Christopher Place’s entrance on Upper Dagnall Street.

A secure commercial bin has been chained to a street sign for use by The White Swan pub, but passersby have left rubbish alongside it.

Pub owner John McGuinness explained that he had asked the council to be allowed to use a site off the street for the bin, but his request was turned down.

A council spokesman said the authority “was not obliged to provide a storage area for business’s bins”.