Coventry faces backlog of rat infestation cases
The council says 437 cases are currently awaiting treatment, with extra funding and recruitment underway to improve response times
Coventry City Council say they are being hit by ‘increasing demand’ to tackle rat infestations as residents are being forced to wait months for pest control.
People facing issues with the vermin are waiting an average of 12 weeks for the council to come out and deal with the problem and in case a resident has so far been waiting six months for a response.
Cllr Mattie Heaven (Cons, Wainbody) asked the council what measures it was taking to reduce the backlog of cases and ensure residents reporting issues with the rodents received ‘timely treatment.’
Figures published by the council show it treated 2,054 cases of rat infestations in 2025/2026 and that between April and July this year it had treated 556 cases.
This is lower than the 2,457 rat treatments undertaken in 2022/2023 and the 2,518 in 2023/2024. Numbers for 2024/2025 are not available because a new data recording system was introduced.
Cllr Patricia Hetherton, Cabinet Member for City Services, said in a written answer to the issues raised: “The current number of outstanding cases waiting for treatment is 437 with the average waiting time to receive a pest control treatment currently being 12 weeks.
“Waiting times for pest control services fluctuate significantly throughout the year due to seasonal variations in demand. Requests typically increase during warmer months when pest activity is higher, which can lead to longer response times.
“A review of the service was undertaken to identify measures required to protect and enhance the free pest control services provided to residents in the face of increasing demand, while also strengthening the commercial activities that generate income to help support and sustain the service.
“As a result, additional funding has been allocated to the service and recruitment is underway to increase staffing levels, strengthen operational capacity and resilience, and improve response times for residents.”
Responding to that statement, Cllr Heaven told a full meeting of the city council she welcomed the additional funding and recruitment but asked when residents could realistically expect to see the backlog reduced and what target waiting time the council was aiming to achieve once additional staff were in place.
Cllr Hetherton admitted: “We did have a problem with recruitment, that’s really important. We try and bring people through ourselves with our own workforce. But this is quite a difficult area.
“So there has been a shortfall, and as a consequence that’s meant the waiting list has been longer. I think we’re on top of that now, and some of the other initiatives we’re taking should make a difference here.”
Cllr Heaven asked if the council could look into the case of one of her constituents, in St. Martin’s Road, Finham. She said: “They need some reassurance and so far it’s been over six months and nothing has been resolved.”
Cllr Hetherton agreed to raise the issue with officers to try to speed up the process.