A MOTHER-OF-THREE has said she is terrified for the safety of her children because their shared council garden is overrun with rats and rubbish.

Hayley Chapman has complained to the council and Spectrum Housing Association because she says the problem at Bramble Court in West Moors has been ongoing for more than a year.

The 29-year-old, who has a four-month-old baby, Daisy, said the garden posed a serious health and safety risk especially for the children and elderly residents.

She said: “The garden is incredibly dangerous and absolutely covered in rubbish including dirty nappies, beer cans and food waste. It is disgusting because you can see huge rats running around attracted by the overflowing bins.

“I’m gobsmacked that the problem has been allowed to continue for more than a year.”

Hayley said she would not let her two sons, nine-year-old Jack and five-year-old Harold, play outside in the ‘squalid’ conditions. This is the second complaint the Echo has reported in two weeks relating to the housing association property in West Moors.

A Christchurch and East Dorset council spokesman said: “I spoke to our Environmental Health people. They went along to deal with the issue but they found that Spectrum Housing Association was already dealing with it.”

A spokesperson from Spectrum Housing Association said: “We have only recently been made aware of the issue via another resident living at the scheme. We take the situation seriously and have liaised with the local authority and a pest control company. We would like to ask residents to bear with us as we try to ascertain the extent of the problem and how best to resolve it.”