Sheffield council tenant complains of long-term cockroach infestation
Cockroaches have been reported in Burlington tower block on Martin Street, Upperthorpe, since 2020.
A Sheffield council tenant has complained about a recurring problem with cockroach infestations in her tower block.
Alisha Wallace submitted questions to Sheffield City Council’s housing policy committee (March 19). She was not at the meeting and a written answer was supplied.
Ms Wallace said cockroaches have been reported in Burlington tower block on Martin Street, Upperthorpe, since 2020. She added: “The scale of the problem is now likely endemic with the ground-floor community room being impacted twice in the space of three months.”
Ms Wallace said that the council is planning to clean the whole block but this excludes flats where tenants or leaseholders refuse the council access.
She said environmental health legislation for statutory nuisance gives the council the power to apply to magistrates to access all flats as necessary to resolve the problem.
“How much longer will tenants of Burlington suffer, until the council uses this approach to fully solve the problem?”
Ms Wallace said the room is used for an English group, tenants and residents association meetings and cooking classes, “so it is actually disappointing that this hasn’t been solved way before now”.
The council response said that “two recent full door-knocking exercises have been undertaken at the block, where a letter about cockroaches was provided, either hand-delivered to those present or posted”.
She said that eight people reported they had issues. Letters were posted to 16 properties advising about treatments earlier this month.
The response was “disappointing”, so another session was arranged and more letters were sent.
More door knocking has taken place and officers are checking to see if multilingual letters are needed.
The response stated: “If we still fail to gain access, access will be gained, usually through tenancy conditions, or if necessary, relevant public health legislation where required.
“SCC council pest control has extremely experienced trained specialist staff and provides services for a wide range of public and private organisations, including the NHS, as well as individual clients.
“The service also undertakes statutory pest control work and serves lots of legal notices, to protect public health.
“The work at Burlington is based on tackling all relevant public health risks so residents can be assured we will continue until the problem is eradicated.”