'Property prices have gone down. Nobody wants to live around here anymore. It's a dumping ground'

Students have sparked outrage after leaving piles of rubbish across Fallowfield as they head home for the summer holidays.

Photos show mounds of waste and overflowing bins in the south Manchester suburb, with sofas , laptops and even bongs among the waste dumped into alleyways. The weekend closest to July 1 has become notorious for fly-tipping as it marks the point when most shared student house leases expire.

And as they often only spend a year living in their properties, the occupants tend to ditch unwanted items before leaving. But pensioners living in Fallowfield, - where over 50% of the population are students - said the mounds of rubbish had 'ruined' the area and hit house prices.

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Nino Guglielmi, 83, who has owned a local hair salon for 60 years, said the streets near his home became a ‘dumping ground’ each year. Staring at the refuse in one alleyway, just off Furness Road, he said: "The students have left this weekend, and they’ve thrown all the rubbish all over the place. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

"They've thrown divans, they've thrown settees, they've thrown duvets, they've thrown laptops – you name it. They've thrown everything and then they go away.

"It ruins the neighbourhood. Nobody wants to buy the properties around here if you want to sell them because it's full of rubbish.

"The property prices have gone down. Nobody wants to live around here anymore. It's like a dumping ground, Fallowfield."

Nino, who moved to Fallowfield in the 1960s from Italy, said he had tried to tackle the waste with other residents as the problem worsened in recent years. But he had struggled with heavy lifting after suffering two heart attacks and said other long-standing locals were now too frail to deal with the growing issue.

He said: "The area has got worse. It used to be bad, but now it’s gone absolutely ridiculously bad. One time we did do a bit of cleaning, voluntary work around here.

"We’ve not done it lately because some people have died, and some are old age. But the students don’t do any cleaning up. They just dump it on the floor and they go.

"It makes me angry because now they’ve blocked my entrance at the back. I can’t even get my car inside my garage because they’ve blocked it with the bins."

Nico said he felt the local authority was not doing enough to bring students to task who were responsible for the problem. He added: "The council doesn’t care. We’ve got rats around here, mice.

"And we daren’t put down poison as we’ve got three or four wild cats. Luckily, they keep the rats and mice at bay."

A spokesman from Manchester Student Homes, which is jointly operated by The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University, said: "Manchester Student Homes has worked closely with partners in Manchester City Council and the charity sector to support students moving out at the end of the academic year. As part of our Give It, Don’t Bin It campaign, students have been encouraged to move out responsibly and donate unwanted items at eight pop-up locations across south and central Manchester.

"This also included extra waste collections from Biffa Waste Services, while unwanted goods and food items were donated to charity. Last year, this equated to 44 tonnes of unwanted goods diverted from landfill raising £76,000 for the British Heart Foundation and two tonnes of food donated to foodbanks."

Councillor Lee-Ann Igbon, Executive Member for Vibrant Neighbourhoods at Manchester council said, said: "We undertake a huge amount of work every year with a number of partners including the universities, resident groups, charities and landlords to improve the issues that arise as students move out of their accommodation at this time of year. Our year long campaign Give It Don't Bin It promotes how students can dispose of items responsibly through recycling and donating to charity and during this changeover period we put additional donation points at key locations before students move out to encourage this.

"We understand that due to the number of properties being vacated on the same weekend that there will be additional rubbish, so we ensure that extra crews are available to monitor and clean up any dumped rubbish as soon as possible to try and limit the disruption that this causes to local residents. Our teams are working tirelessly to remove any fly-tipped rubbish in these areas as quickly as possible."