A MOUNTAIN of rubbish by the side of a Boscombe road built up after the council ‘failed to clear it’, according to residents.

The makeshift tip, which is protruding onto the road from the courtyard of a block of flats on Walpole Road, near The Crescent includes a mattress, fridge, rotting food and masses of discarded packaging.

John Punell, 46, has lived in the area for 12 years and described the site as ‘disgusting’. He said it has been in this state for months.

“Someone needs to take responsibility for this,” he added. “It is the sort of thing that could become a health issue.”

Andy Berry, another resident who lives nearby, said he had seen rats there plus passers-by throwing more rubbish onto the heap.

“How it got into this state I will never know. It is like every Tom, Dick and Harry is dumping rubbish there. It seems to take a lot of complaints before anything is done.

“They are trying to improve Boscombe and make it a nicer place to live so to see this is disheartening.”

Karen Read, who lives in Walpole Road, said she has been emailing the council about the issue for weeks.

“I got a reply from them to say, ‘We’re going to sort it out’, and they even sent a lorry, but it stopped and then drove off again without clearing anything,” she added.

“Somebody’s even put a sign next to it saying ‘Free maggots’.

“There’s all sorts there – dirty nappies, rotten food, everything. If it’s windy, you can smell it for some way.”

A spokesman for Bournemouth Borough Council said access to the area was blocked by bulky goods.

“The rubbish has since piled on top of the bulky goods but because this is a private property we are not obliged to clear the bulky goods,” he said.

“Our enforcement team has been liaising with the managing agent and a contractor has been scheduled from the managing agent to remove the bulky goods and once this has been done we will collect the rubbish.”

The rubbish was cleared away shortly after this article was posted. Gary Briggs, refuse operations manager at Bournemouth council, said: “The managing agent arranged for their contractor to clear away the rubbish which had been piled in front of the bins.

“This is standard practice for private residential areas. We then emptied all three communal bins this morning and swept the alleyway behind the bin store to ensure any litter that had spilled out was removed.”