Plea for rats-infested lane to be cleaned up

​Lisa Graham and her neighbours at Highfield Gardens have been calling for the lane to be cleaned as a matter of urgency for over a year, however there has been no clean-up action to date, much to the dismay of residents having to put up with rat infestation.

Lisa commented: “The lane itself runs from the old Newry Road, the back of Highfield Gardens/top of Cline Road), down the side of Hillhead, and side of Gowanvale.

“Within the lane there are various hot spots of dumping.

“I have been fighting for over a year to get this bit of land cleaned.”

As ownership of the lane has not been established, Lisa explained, no statutory body is prepared to clean it, whether it be Environmental Health, or the NI Housing Executive.

The Banbridge resident continued: “Last year, I was told by Environmental Health to get the community to clean it.

“There are incontinence pads with human waste, how would local residents clean this?

“Last year, in the height of the heat, I had been in the lane taking photos, and with the smell and flies I vomited.

“Environmental Health this year stated that they had carried out an inspection, and said there was no issue with illegal dumping.

“Myself and a few other residents have now found four more hotspots along the lane that had more incontinence pads and household rubbish - evidence that the problem is escalating.

“A lady living here had two rats in her house and they totally destroyed her furniture.

“This lane really needs to be cleaned. Further down the line, we would love to get 'no dumping' signage up.”

A Housing Executive spokesperson said: “The lane in Cline Road is not owned by the

Housing Executive.

“Our maintenance team have inspected the area in question and identified access points from Housing Executive land.

“Work will begin immediately to close these off to prevent access to the lane and further fly-tipping.”