RATS nesting in piles of rubbish in Ferndown are to be dealt with immediately at a cost of up to £5,000.

Plastic bags, car seats, fast food wrappers and bike tyres are among the junk abandoned in Ford Lane woods, behind Halfords, McDonalds, Coastal Car Sales, Premier Inn and the Beefeater Restaurant, attracting vermin. A digger is to be called in to gut the area so it can be flattened, and fences will be repaired, Ferndown Town council’s environment committee voted at an emergency meeting.

Video footage of the mess that attracted rats

Town clerk Ian Jones, who was alerted by environmental health officers, said: “It’s clear a number of businesses have been suffering for a while and we need to get this under control.

“Over a number of years people have been dumping waste there, and with businesses selling food so nearby it’s not on.

“In winter, it makes a little nest for the rats to keep warm in.

“We need to disrupt that.”

Carly Whitbread works at Premier Inn, where bushes have already been removed to discourage the rodents.

Ms Whitbread said: “I’d say I noticed them in the last three or four months.

“You’d see them running to and from the path, and in the bushes.

“But now the bushes have gone, it’s quite open plan, and I haven’t seen them on this side of the fence since.”

Staff at other businesses said it’s been a problem for at least six months and they sometimes hear rustling around the bins.

Littering and fly tipping are illegal activities and an East Dorset District Council spokesman said they will prosecute anyone caught carrying them out.