Excrement, empty beer cans, rubbish, blocked drains, overflowing bins and overgrown weeds and hedges are among a catalogue of complaints from residents of Welllington Terrace in Wisbech.
The estate, which belongs to Circle Housing Roddons, has led to Cambridgeshire County Councillors Paul Clapp and Alan Lay urging for a clean-up.
Wisbech North Councillor Paul Clapp, said in an email to Circle Housing Roddons: “I am shocked that yet another of your properties is becoming a cesspit for drinkers and in turn they are using Wellington Terrace as a toilet.
“Now, I know that you would not like this going on in your back yard, so why is it going on in mine?
“This is a basic responsibility of your caretaker service.
“All the weeds that have been allowed to become overgrown -this is a job for your contractors who you say are ‘working well’.
“Clearly this is not the case when it comes to Wellington Terrace.
“You would not live like this. Why, then, are you allowing your tenants to live like this?
“They pay rent and as their landlord you have a responsibility to look after your tenants. This is not happening in this case.”
In response to Cllr Clapp’s questions, Pauline Gardner, neighbourhood manager of Circle Housing, said: “The neighbourhood officer visited Wellington Terrace this morning [February 1] and will be visiting again with the estate caretaker this week to carry out a full estate inspection and draw up a schedule of works, which will be carried out by the estate caretaker during week commencing February 8.
“The estate caretaker last visited the site two weeks ago.
“We are going to do a big clean up at Wellington Terrace on March 4 as part of the ‘Clean for the Queen’ campaign, which will be attended by our grounds maintenance contractor and estate caretaker.”
Responding to her comments, Cllr Clapp said: “Can we have regular clean ups in this area as it clearly is needed?”
He also asked: “Have you got a long term cleaning plan for the whole area as it would keep the rubbish under control and hopefully the drinkers too?”
Trevor Daisley, of Wisbech, said this is “all too familiar”.
He said: “Past experience with Circle regarding Kennedy Court, warns me that they may make an effort in the first instance to improve the look of Wellington Terrace, but this very quickly falls away.
“It has always been the case that after the initial clean/tidy up those things quickly go back to the original state.
Another Wisbech resident, Jayne Abrams, said the proposals are just “a quick fix.
“Circle has time and again proved that they cannot be trusted.
“What surprises me is the quick response they have on this, when the residents of Kennedy Court have over the years complained about the lack of maintenance.
“Why is this? I make the suggestion, that it is down to the negative reporting of said issues, and they are trying to limit the damage to their company prior to the merge with Affinity Sutton.
“It will take a lot more than that, to repair relations between them and residents.”
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