A Fife woman’s home was blighted by piles of household waste infested with maggots for more than three months before council workers removed it.
Michelle Dickson said she contacted Fife Council on numerous occasions in an effort to get her mum’s home in Dunfermline’s Cleish Place cleared after other residents dumped as many as 50 bin bags of rubbish and other waste in the area.
Despite assurances that the piles of rubbish would be removed before Christmas, Michelle said the festering mounds had become a health hazard and were attracting rats and other vermin into the area.
The rotting waste was finally removed from the property yesterday after The Courier contacted Fife Council about the concerns.
Michelle said: “I am very concerned for my mother’s health. The cats and birds have caused the contaminated rubbish to overflow into my mother’s back garden and back door area.
“There had also been signs of maggots and it had become so bad it had become impossible for us to use the pathway to the rear of my mother’s property.
“This is a huge problem and a worry. It’s the fourth time this problem has occurred at the house.”
Michelle said she has been urging the council to step in and help since she first alerted it to the problem in October.
She also enlisted the help of her local councillor, Liberal Democrat James Calder.
Mr Calder said: “It is unacceptable that anyone has to live with this environmental hazard around their home for almost three months.
“I have raised this with council officers who assured me that this problem would be looked at.
“I urged the council to make it a priority to clean up this as quickly as possible. It had become an obvious health and safety issue that had to to be made a priority.”
Lynne Johnston, lead officer at Fife Council, said: “We’re sorry for the delay getting this rubbish collected, our team collected it today.”
