PEOPLE being ordered to pick up or pay for other people's rubbish to be shifted claim they are being treated like garbage by the Council.

People living on an Undercliffe street received letters from Bradford Council's environment department saying they must clean away piles of waste - dumped by strangers in the access road behind their terraced homes - or pay the local authority to do it.

Fagley Terrace resident Lee Appleyard blamed flytippers for the mess, which includes furniture, carpets and other waste, and is often torched by gangs who hang around the area.

"We here keep our homes and their exteriors clean. Where does all of this accumulated waste come from?

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"The various flytippers who think nothing of dumping their furniture, carpet remnants, and other trash, much of which is flammable.

"Local gangs set fire to the materials, which are often close to the homes," she said.

"Another source of the trash comes from these drug dealing gangs who gather around here and drop their cans and containers from the local takeaway. Many times, this neighbourhood looks like a landfill."

Mrs Appleyard said the root of the problem was that the back road was unadopted and to change its status would cost too much.

"I've asked about changing its status to an adopted road but the Council told me it would cost an absolute fortune so that's not going to happen," she said.

"I am on a limited income and don't have extra cash to throw around every time some idiot dumps a sofa or a mattress or other garbage behind my house and I have to arrange to have it removed.

"What are we paying council tax for? We're being treated like proverbial garbage."

But a Bradford Council spokesman when it did not know who was illegally dumping rubbish, it could not take action.

"In the absence of that evidence it rests with those who are responsible for the land to remove the fly tipped waste. Where this doesn't happen the Council can step in to make sure the material is cleared away and recover the cost of doing so," he added.

Ward councillor Mohammed Shafiq (Lab) said he sympathised with the residents and would help arrange a neighbourhood meeting, but appealed for people to vigilant and report any flytippers to himself, the police or Council.

"Flytipping is still illegal on an unadopted road. Unfortunately the Council's purse is tight and changing the road to become adopted would not be a cheap option," he said.

"I'd like to remind people that Bowling Back Lane tip is just five minutes away from Fagley Terrace where they can get rid of their waste for free if they show an easily obtainable permit from the Council."