Mum calls for action over rats

7:02pm Tuesday 19th February 2008

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A MOTHER has called for action after telling how land beside her house had become over-run by rats.

Gail Clarke has had to keep her doors and windows closed for the past few weeks to stop the rodents coming into her home, on the border between Clayton-le-Moors and Altham.

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The mother-of-one said it has also been dangerous to let her daughter go out to play in the garden after the animals were seen running across her lawn.

And her mother, Jean Clarke, was horrified when she found a dead rat on the grass by the house in Sefton Close.

The creatures are thought to have come from the nearby canal and set up home in a hawthorn bush that runs alongside Blackburn Road.

Mrs Clarke said: "They have started to burrow holes into my garden. I have tried putting stones over the holes but they just dig round.

"They are a health hazard, especially when there are small children around."

Mrs Clarke informed Hyndburn Council about the problem and workers told her to remove food from a bird bath in the garden.

However, she said the rats were still plaguing the area because of the litter being dumped in the hawthorn bush.

She added: "I suppose areas round here can be seen as a bit posh, and nobody wants to be saying they have rats - so perhaps no one else has complained.

"But something needs to be done. I keep seeing them scurrying all over the place."

Coun Peter Clarke, cabinet member for environmental issues, said they were taking action.

He said: "A member of the pest control team has visited the property to treat the area on three occasions and is due to return on Friday.

"Officers are also in the process of establishing the ownership of a strip of land at the back of the property which seems to be the source of the problem.

"They will make the owners aware of their responsibility to maintain and treat the area to prevent further infestations.

"Cleansing have also visited and carried out a litter pick along that area of Burnley Road to remove any food or debris which may attract vermin."