Families say rampant fly-tipping on their doorstep is causing rat infestation and 'horrific' stench and is blocking pavements and spilling onto the streets

Families in an area hit by rampant fly-tipping have voiced their anger at the growing piles of rubbish, which are spilling onto the streets and causing rat infestations.

Pavements in Enfield, London, are being used as dumping grounds with sodden carboard boxes, open nappies, and even knives littered across the side of the road, blocking the way for pedestrians and causing a 'horrific' stench.

Recent data has shown that the council in north London had a whopping 5,505 reported incidents of fly-tipping in 2022.

Enfield also had the highest number of prosecutions for dumping rubbish of any local authority in the country. 

Now locals are demanding a solution to the problem which has seen dozens of bin bags line the area's pavements, attracting vermin and making people 'sick' with the unpleasant smell.

Ediz Mevlit, 48, described his borough as the 'capital of fly-tipping'.

He said: 'The rubbish I posted on Twitter this morning had been there for over 24 hours. It's a complete joke.

'There are three schools in my road and not that long ago I found a two-foot long kebab knife just sitting on one of them.

'By the tree, which is famous in our road for dumping, we are seeing lots of open nappies and the stench is unreal -it's like you want to be sick when you're walking past. When it's warm it really smells. It's horrific.

'And just to think you've got hundreds of kids walking past it every morning and every afternoon.'

Mr Mevlit added that he had become 'scared' to cycle to work in the morning thanks to rats roaming the streets, attracted to the piles of rubbish.

'We've got absolutely massive rats in our roads,' he said. 'They must love it. In the mornings when I'm coming to work on my bike, I'm actually quite scared. 

'I can see the size of these things and they are really big and my kid's school is right there, and it's sad, really.'

Mr Mevlit, who worked as a police officer for 12 years, said that the problem had got worse when weekly rubbish collections were changed to every two weeks and local rubbish tips became appointment-only during Covid.

'The whole area has just become a a dumping site really since our bins started being collected two-weekly and the charging of our green bins was implemented last year.

'Now we're seeing green rubbish being dumped everywhere as well, because people just can't afford to pay.

'Our local dump yard during Covid decided to go appointments only. If you go twice you can't do it. So that's when we saw an an even bigger increase in rubbish being dumped.

'Carboard boxes, for instance, someone's taken the time to put all their cardboard boxes together, put some string around it, but then they've dumped it somewhere because they can't go to the recycling centre because they're not going to allow them anymore, because they've probably been once or twice already.'

The 48-year-old, who works as a bus driver, urged the council to introduce CCTV to catch the perpetrators. 

Enfield Council issued 5,096 Fixed Penalty Notices for fly-tipping in 2022, with 44 further prosecutions made.

Mr Mevlit said: 'The council are not being proactive - they're allowing it to continue and just ignoring it.

'There are no signs being put up. We were told more enforcement was going to be implemented at the previous elections.

'I would bring in CCTV, have the images of these people put up and for them to be called out.

'That will bring an end to it straight away.

'Financially the council could actually make some money out of it by fining these people but for some reason they haven't chosen to go down that direction which would, I think, eliminate the majority of these dumpings.

'It's ridiculous. They stated they will put cameras, they'll start investigating it but it's it's just being ignored, unfortunately, and some parts of Enfield are much worse than mine.

'I'm ashamed of where I live.' 

Furious locals have taken to social media to draw attention to the extent of fly-tipping in the borough.

One user said: 'I've reported littering and fly-tipping to Enfield council numerous times this year but nothing seems to change.'

Another added: 'I've reported fly tipping in my street and your refuse collectors are pretty ok at responding and collecting. BUT what are you going to do to stop this from happening - today the path is completely unusable . Prevention surely better than cure.'

A third posted: 'More fly tipping, more rubbish, more complete incompetence from you to look after the upper Edmonton area we are sick and tired of this.' 

Enfield Council has been contacted for comment.