Rats posing extra lockdown difficulties for Maddiston residents

Numerous homes in the village’s Kings Seat Place and surrounding streets have been blighted by the rodents over the past few weeks, with many bins being “destroyed”.

To make matters worse, residents say they’re being left to deal with the situation on their own as Falkirk Council doesn’t currently provide a pest control service, while the estate’s factors — or property managers — have deemed there to be no “cause for concern” in communal areas.

Claire Blair, who lives in the street with her husband and two young children, said: “Following the recent reduction in refuge collection, we have rats roaming the newly built Barratt estate.

“Quite a lot of people have got traps down and everyone has caught loads.

“I’ve lived here for six years but it’s only been an issue for the past fortnight. They’re coming out in broad daylight.

“A lot of people are saying these rats have been somewhere before and are changing their habits.

“I don’t know if there’s no communal waste in the town or no general large bin or refuse areas, but our bins have been destroyed — they’ve eaten right through them.”

However, claims the pests have emerged due to a change to the council’s waste collection service have been refuted by the local authority.

A Falkirk Council spokeswoman said: “The disruption to the recyclate collections over the last few weeks, as a result of Covid-19, should not lead to increased sightings of vermin.

“Materials for the blue and burgundy bins are, in the main, cardboard, paper, cans and plastics.

“Collections for residual, food and absorbent hygiene products have not been disrupted with the food bin continuing to be picked up every week.

“We’d like to thank local residents for their patience and support during these challenging times.”

In February, plans for a new £100,000 council pest control service were pushed through as part of the local Labour Group budget, which defeated the SNP administration’s proposals courtesy of support from the Conservatives.

However, the introduction of the new “holistic service” involving pest removal and advice on preventative measures has been put on hold due to Covid-19.

For now, residents are advised to either hire a pest controller or control pests themselves.

The number of rats which have descended on King Seat Place has meant such options aren’t viable at the moment, according to Claire.

With James Gibb Factoring, the company responsible for managing the property, insisting there is no risk of rats entering communal spaces, neighbours feel their hands are tied.

Claire said: “They say they’re not in communal areas but we’ve seen them roam about there.

“It’s well and good if I call a controller but I’ve got a dog and two small kids so I don’t want to put poison down.

“There are around 200 houses. There’s no point in a pest controller coming to one property because they’re roaming across the whole estate and that’s why we contacted the factors for a sanitation inspection and official report so we can group together and get it sorted.

“I don’t think anybody wants to take responsibility for it.”

Alasdair Wallace, operations manager at James Gibb Factoring, said: “We are aware of the enquiries made regarding King Seat Place and take them very seriously.

“The development manager instructed one of our pest controller companies to attend the estate.

“We have already passed their advice directly to concerned residents. The experts did not identify cause for concern in the communal areas and the details were passed to homeowners for their review and assessment, as they may need to consider pest control privately in their own gardens.

“That said, we take these situations extremely seriously. We want to reassure everyone we are trying to help, so we have requested a more thorough, technical assessment from the pest controller in case there is a likely cause in the larger, common landscaped areas.

“In addition, we have requested a cost-per-property for owners to decide if they wish to engage the services of pest control in their private gardens.

“We have no legal authority to carry out any action within private gardens, only common areas, which all homeowners in the estate have a legal and common responsibility for.”