Angry Shipley residents claim recycling bins are causing a health hazard in the town centre, after rats were spotted in the area near a superstore and medical centre.

Residents claim their health is at risk and are blaming overflowing recycling bins in a Bradford Council-owned car park at the town's Asda store for attracting the vermin.

But a Bradford Council spokesman said the bins were cleaned out on a weekly basis and additional collections were rarely needed.

According to residents of Manor Lane, a dead rat was left on the street for days until cleansing officers from Bradford Council came to clear it up, despite several calls of complaint.

Martin Baines, 49, of Manor Lane, said he was fed up with trying to get the mess cleared up.

"I have tried repeatedly to find answers but got nowhere," he said. "Now that rats are running around it is critical."

Mr Baines feared children could be at risk because children from a nearby primary school walked along the road near the bins.

He said the dead rat was eventually cleared up last Friday - after almost a week of repeated calls to the Council.

"How long does it take for a festering dead rat to become a health hazard? We can't believe no-one is doing anything about it," he said.

Mr Baines, a roofer, who has lived on Manor Lane for more than 20 years, said he had spent at least a decade fighting to get the recycling centre cleared up more frequently.

Heather Esiri, a mother-of-one, said the mess was a health hazard.

"I've got a little boy and I'm afraid of letting him out," she said. "There are little kids walking about.

"We are not against the recycling bins but they have to emptied regularly to stop what seems like an epidemic of rats."

Susan Tear, practice manager of Westcliffe Medical Centre, next to the car park, also voiced concerns.

"The situation is atrocious," she said. "It is absolutely disgusting and worrying for us because we are a health centre. I have seen rats myself. The bins need to be emptied more frequently. It is causing a lot of concern."

A Bradford Council recycling spokesman said: "These recycling banks are emptied on a weekly basis. Although additional collections can be made they are rarely needed, except around the Christmas period.

"We would ask people not to leave unnecessary rubbish around the bins but to dispose of it via their wheeled bins or at the Council's waste disposal sites."

A spokesman for Asda said: "Two weeks ago a rat was spotted outside the store. This is a highly unusual incident.

"It was taken very seriously. The Council was contacted and pest control experts were brought in to deal with it as a matter of urgency.

"All the correct pest control measures were taken and the problem has now been resolved."