Yahoo News 'Fed up' neighbours wake up to 'appalling mess' as students pack up for the summer
People have described feeling "totally fed up and distressed" after waking up to "disgusting mess" as students pack up to leave areas of Liverpool.
The area around Smithdown Road in Wavertree is a student hotspot in the city. In recent years, long-standing local residents have complained about huge amounts of rubbish being dumped in the streets of the area as students pack up and leave their properties for the summer.
This year, Liverpool City Council says it has been working extensively with its partners, including the city's universities, to try and stop the same grim scenes that were witness last year.
MORE: Search for missing boy on Crosby beach stood down after 15 hours
The local authority says they have seen significant improvements and far fewer complaints about dumping this time around - but in one street residents still woke up to some appalling dumping on Sunday morning.
Images sent to the ECHO from residents of Wellington Avenue show overflowing bins, with large amounts or rubbish spilling out onto the road and pathways.
Household goods can be seen scattered around the local area - including duvets, clothes and kitchen items.
One resident, who asked us to only use his first name of Vincent, said: "It is the perennial issue of the absolutely disgusting mess brought about by the wholesale dumping of property when they leave their Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs).
"All the long standing residents are totally fed up and distressed to have to endure all this yet again."
Vincent, who has lived in Wellington Avenue for decades, added: "Unfortunately all this mess does not mark the end of the impact of the students on our daily lives, but actually brings on the start of the stress of the next, same nuisance cycle, when the new intake invariably kick off their new tenancies with all night parties."
There was some good news, however, on Monday morning, when the mess was cleared up by the council, leading Vincent to add: "We are somewhat relieved but wish we did not have to have been subjected to rubbish strewn all over the weekend in the first place."
Cllr Laura Robertson-Collins is a councillor for the nearby Arundel ward, which has similar issues with student housing, and is also the council's cabinet member for communities and neighbourhoods.
She said wide-scale efforts have gone into addressing these issues this year.
She said: "We have stepped it up with every organisation this year, we have really pushed on this issue. We put lots of plans in place, working with the universities and sending letters to houses.
"Unfortunately on June 30 there is always a pinch point because this is when all the landlords end the contracts for the student houses and they make them empty the houses or face losing their deposits. It is a fundamentally wasteful way of doing things."
But the cabinet member said overall things have vastly improved compared with recent years.
She added: "We have had far less in terms of complaints from residents to local councillors this year. We would continue to ask anyone who has problems in their local area to keep reporting them and we will deal with them and make sure that landlords who are not playing their part are fined."
The Liverpool Daily Post newsletter delves into the biggest stories on Merseyside
