A group of residents of a Southwark estate have complained that their homes are “overrun” with mice.
Jacquie Gilmartin, a council tenant who lives on the top floor of a building on the Dodson and Amigo estate in Borough, said she and other residents tried to book pest control appointments through Southwark Council’s website – but could not get anywhere.
Separately George Dargan, another council tenant on the estate, said he was told by a council officer on the phone that there were no appointments available.
Residents had more luck with an email address and were able to get pest control officers to come round. But the mice are a recurring problem, they say: often the rodents reappear soon after pest control have got rid of them.
Ms Gilmartin said she has called out pest control five times in the five months since the mice became an issue.
“Mice breed a lot,” she said. “I’ve done my research. If the council aren’t doing anything to control them they will just keep breeding.”
“It’s not just me, people are coming out of the woodwork from all over the estate. There was a woman running round her room chasing the mice. People shouldn’t have to live like that. It’s disgusting.”
Now a group of residents including Ms Gilmartin and Mr Dargan are calling on the council to address the problem in the estate as a whole, rather than flat-by-flat.
“They’re not going to go away unless they deal with every flat in the block. I live right at the top. There’s no point coming to me unless they deal with the lower floors as well.”
Cllr Catherine Rose, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Environment and Roads, said: “We have been attending to communal areas such as the space described at the Dodson and Amigo Estate. We will implement full block treatments as needed to tackle infestations and have visited, investigated and scheduled the necessary work”.
The Dodson and Amigo estate is not overrun by vermin. I live there and have never seen any mice or rats in my flat, block or around the estate.