People 'nearly vomit' every time they open their front door

Neighbours are fed up of feeling sick every time they open their front door from the stench of the unemptied bins in their block of flats.

Marie Cowan, 66, from Fairfield, lives in a block of 60 flats and claims the bins have not been emptied for nearly a month. She says there is around 80 bin bags piled up stinking out the bin shed, which is opposite her front door.

The stench has got so bad, says Marie, that she has told her son not to bring his baby around to visit her anymore, because of how vile the smell has got.

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Marie, who lives in Treetop flats, owned by Housing Association, Plus Dane Housing, told the ECHO: "I live in a block of flats in Fairfield - there is 60 flats in the block - that is a lot of people and the bins haven't been emptied for about four weeks now. I live next to the bin shed, I'm on the bottom floor and face it, when you go in it [the bin shed] the bins are up to the ceiling. And the smell of it...

"There is a lot of people in wheelchairs, some people have no legs who live here and it's just dangerous for them. It's unhealthy for us to be in these conditions."

Marie's neighbour and good friend, Amir Minhas, 67, is one of the residents living in Treetop flats who is in a wheelchair and struggles to access the bin shed, especially in its current state. She added: "The flats are three floors so a lot of them have to bring their bin bags all the way downstairs - it's a lot for old people and people in wheelchairs.

"I open my front door and I can smell them, it's causing me a lot of problems because I live opposite them. I even told my son not to bring their baby over to see me anymore until its sorted, because the smell is that bad. The warm weather we had is making it smell even worse."

Marie, who has lived in the building for nine years, says she - as well as other residents - have complained to Liverpool council, asking them to collect the bins. She added: "There is four or five massive bins in there where we put our bin bags, you can't even get in the door at the moment because there is that many bags dumped there. There must be 80 bin bags there at the moment."

Marie added: "I put a bin bag out yesterday and I was nearly vomiting when I went out because of the smell of it, it's not nice when you are coming out of your own house."

A spokesperson for Liverpool council said: "Domestic waste collections at Tree Top Court are carried out every 2 weeks on a Wednesday. The collection crew did not report any issue on the last scheduled collection day.

"Collection is next due tomorrow (8th May) and will be monitored by a waste collection supervisor to ensure all waste is taken."

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