Residents have been left with bags-full of rubbish outside their homes for three weeks, claims a Bowling ward councillor who is demanding immediate action.

Councillor Mukhtar Ali (Lab, Bowling), said he had been inundated with calls from residents in the Leeds Road area who say they haven't had refuse collected since before Christmas

Broken televisions and old mattresses are also strewn across their roads - Florence Street, Kimberly Street and Steadman Street - and Coun Ali is calling on Bradford Council to remove the waste immediately.

"There's at least one bag full of rubbish outside each of the houses on the street," he said.

The calls come days after residents by Victoria Park, Keighley, demanded similar action after claims that a rotting mass of up to 40 bin bags had been left outside their homes for weeks and were attracting rats to the area. Alan Lowry, services manager at Clearwell Pest Control Services in Chapel Street, Bradford, said: "We have had at least 50 per cent more calls about rats over the last six months. They're attracted to rubbish and discarded food left lying about in public places."

A Bradford Council cleansing spokesman said: "We always get some problems after Christmas as we are catching up on working days lost after the holiday and bins are not emptied on the usual day.

"We apologise for the delay and can assure residents that we will be collecting rubbish today."

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