Fed up locals in a Levenmouth street claim they have been blighted by mice.
Caroline Mitchell, who lives in Old Mill Court, put the blame on problems with Fife Council bin collections and infrequent grass cutting and weedkilling in communal areas in the quiet cul-de-sac.
Over one long spell this winter Caroline, 52, and her neighbours had waited five weeks for bins to be uplifted.
“The council says it’s because of parked cars, but we know bin day, we move our cars, it is not the people who stay in the scheme who are blocking the way,” she said.
But despite their best efforts, they could not stop others from parking there.
With bins choc-a-bloc Caroline was soon a well kent face at the local recycling centre as she, as a younger member of the community who the more elderly residents rely upon, tried to keep the rubbish under control.
Added to that, she said she often had to try to spray weedkiller and claimed council staff were not cutting grass as frequently as before.
Then worse was to come — neighbours had seen mice at the local up garages near the bins, but on Christmas Eve it seemed not all were sleeping.
“I noticed the fridge wasn’t working, and saw mice droppings around the back.
“They must have gnawed through it (the cable).”
And she wasn’t alone, neighbours also had unwanted visitors.
Traps were soon put down, and five of the rodents caught, but Caroline has had enough.
Apart from the expense of a new fridge, she threw out other electrical appliances she felt were contaminated by droppings.
“I have lived here 30 years and we’ve not had mice once.
“I feel we are being fobbed off.
“People are paying rent.
“But we are spraying weedkiller, and have been taking rubbish to the coup.
“Really, the council should be paying me to live here,” she said.
She said that “someone needs to do something,” because the issue was happening all the time in the cul-de-sac.
“I look out and think to myself that I am not enjoying living here any more.”
A “challenging” street
Waste operations manager Martin Kingham admitted: “Old Mill Court is one of our more challenging streets to service.
“A fence runs along the edge of the road for much of its length and our drivers, who are highly skilled at accessing tight locations like this, need to reverse along its length to get to every bin.
“Unfortunately, it only takes one car to be parked on the road to cut off access to our collection vehicle.
“When this happens we continue to persevere throughout the day and if necessary return the following day to try to get access to the bins.”
The council had already written to every resident about the problem.
He said there had not been any problem since this incident, when the bin lorry staff had to return the following day to gain access.
Mr Kingham said that if bin lids are left open then vermin might be attracted to the contents but after having consulted the local authority’s pest control team, “there does not appear to be any obvious connection between delayed collections and mice found in people’s homes”.
Meanwhile John Haskell, the parks, streets and open spaces manager for the Levenmouth area, added staff sprayed weedkiller twice a year in the area and Old Mill Court was included in the programme.
“We’ve sent staff to the area and have not witnessed a weed problem with the public areas maintained to a reasonable standard.
“I appreciate that some residents may have helped with this by spraying their own area but we would advise against this as we carefully measure the amount of chemical applied in all public areas.
“All areas of council owned grass in Levenmouth are cut between 12-16 times every year over the growing season and the grass at Old Mill Court is included in this programme.
“Routine shrub maintenance is done over the winter period and Old Mill Court is already scheduled into that programme but I’ve asked staff to attend this week to deal with anything that might need more immediate attention.”
