Invitation to the rats - and possible eviction

This is what happens when you leave rubbish at the bottom of the stairs...first the foxes break open the bags and sniff out the chicken wings (this pic was taken a couple of weeks ago, late at night, after a fox was spotted rummaging at the bottom of 41-60 Holden). Then the rats come and feed...a gigantic rat was spotted on this very site a week later...

At the last TRA meeting, we were joined by Karen Sweeney, a Lewisham Homes officer based at Pepys Estate. She told us she had particular responsibility for pest control. Part of the job involved spot checks on rubbish left by bin chambers. We were surprised to hear that in a particular case on Crossfields, she had opened a dumped rubbish bag, and rather like a paparazzi reporter, had gone through the bag looking for evidence of where it had come from. She told us she had found a letter and traced the bag to a flat in Castell. The occupant was then visited and threatened with eviction if they continued to dispose of their rubbish incorrectly.

That indicates how seriously Lewisham Homes takes the matter of rubbish disposal, and how we should too. There is no point in the TRA complaining that the bins and bin chambers and hopper heads (the balcony bin chutes) aren't properly maintained and kept clean, if residents continue to dump rubbish on balconies and outside the bin chambers, or dispose of unwrapped food down the chutes. So please do your bit to keep the rats at bay!