A SMELL as bad as ‘rotten cabbage’ and ‘rats as big as cats’ are the problems caused by a neighbouring house's rubbish, a man has claimed.

William Traill said the problem has got so bad that he won’t let his grandchildren play out for long, as the mess has become a ‘health hazard.’

He said the issues have come from rubbish dumped in the back yard of a house next door to where his daughter Victoria lives in Abraham Street, Blackburn.

Mr Traill, who has two grandchildren, James and Ivory Traill, first raised the issue with the Lancashire Telegraph last year, and said it remains a problem to this day, despite him contacting estate agents Entwistle Green.

However, Countrywide which Entwistle Green is a part of, said Entwistle Green terminated the marketing and management of the property last year due to the house not meeting its exacting standards.

It is not known who the owners of the house are.

Mr Traill said: “Nothing is being done.

“I’ve contacted the estate agents Entwistle Green on numerous occasions and they keep saying they’ll get onto it but can’t get hold of the landlord of the house to sort it.

“The house has been empty and had a rent sign on it which has been taken down, so I’m not sure if they’ve found someone for it now.

“What you get is people walking by and dumping stuff in the back yard.

“There are piles of black bin bags everywhere.

Mr Traill said the rubbish is even causing problems with flies.

He added: “My daughter Victoria can’t even open the back door without being met by a horrendous smell.

“It’s like rotten cabbage and the rubbish is causing problems with rats, some of which are as big as cats.

“It’s just unhealthy as my grandchildren are having to play out in that and we’ll get to back in after a short time because of how bad it is.

“My daughter is expecting another child in a couple of weeks also.

“You could catch disease from the rubbish and because of all the flies and rats.”

Blackburn with Darwen Council said its empty properties team has been in contact with the owners regarding the property.

The council said the house had been advertised ‘To Let’ by Entwistle Green with a ‘A Let Agreed’ sign going up.

But they said the sign has been removed with nobody moving in currently.

The council added it had written to the owners asking for an update on when the house will be occupied.