Angry residents have called for action to clean up an “absolute eyesore” caused by rubbish dumped outside their homes.

Wajid Iqbal says fridges, mattresses and settees have been left at the back of his home in Rushton Road, Thornbury.

Mr Iqbal, who lives in an extended property with nine of his relatives, including two children, wants the alleyway between Thornbury Drive and Rushton Road tidied up.

He said he had been battling with Bradford Council for more than five years over rubbish being left there and claimed the situation has now got so bad that it is unsafe for children to play outside in the street.

But the Council has responded by saying that as the area is classed as private land it is the owner and not the local authority who has the responsibility to remove it.

Mr Iqbal, 36, said of the mess: “It’s absolutely disgusting.

“I’ve spoken to the Council about it a few times, but they keep fobbing us off. The flytipping is really bad, it’s an absolute mess.

“We want something to be done about it. It’s been long enough, it’s not happening at the moment.

“People are dumping rubbish and you can’t even take your car through the street now.

“I have lived here all of my life. When I was younger you could play out in the back streets. Kids can’t do that now. It’s just really, really dirty.”

Ashraf Hussain, also of Rushton Road, said: “Nobody is doing anything about it, why?

“We don’t own it, it’s not on our deeds. The Council say it’s unadopted. We want the Council to do something about it.”

Councillor Faisal Khan (Bradford Independent Group, Bradford Moor) said he sympathised with the residents but pointed out it might be down to them to clean up the mess.

He said: “It’s clearly unacceptable.

“Unfortunately, a lot of it is down to the residents to clean up, which is difficult when people have been flytipping down their road.

“Residents are suffering due to someone else.”

Ian Day, the Council’s interim assistant director for neighbourhoods and customer services, said: “Our wardens are aware of the rubbish which has been dumped in the Thornbury Avenue area and we have spoken to residents about it.

“The rubbish has not been flytipped, it originated from one of the properties there and as it is on private land. It is the responsibility of the landowner to have it removed.

“We are in contact with the property owner concerning the removal of the rubbish.”