RESIDENTS in a North Belfast street say they are frustrated and angry over the state of an entry that backs onto their homes.
Niki Griffin and Dermot Gilvary from Clifton Drive say the area has been plagued by spates of fly tipping in recent months, with one pile of rubbish lying in the alley for over two years.
Faeces, bin bags and toilets have also been discarded in the alley.
Speaking about the rubbish, Niki said much of it was being dumped during the night.
"You can hear noise in the middle of the night. You come out for your bin day and you're greeted with this mess," she said,
"It's a gated alleyway so it's obviously neighbours who are doing it. We've rang the council, we've asked the council to enforce things, and no one is listening.
"You can't blame the bin workers for not wanting to lift this stuff. You're honestly apologising to the bin men coming every week.
"The smells are disgusting. Other residents have seen rats. We can't sit out in our own back yard, which is all the outside space we have, because the smell from the alley is so strong. We can't hang our washing outside."
Dermot is just as frustrated as his neighbour.
"It's just disgusting and out of order," he added.
"This is the twenty-first century. What gives people the right to think that they can dump this at other people's doors, and we should deal with it? This part of the alley is a gathering point so this is where everything ends up.
"The council haven't done anything about it. They've said they'll send notices around.
"This has been going on for three or four years, but has been really bad the last couple of years. People get new furniture and just wheel their old stuff out and dump it in the alley.
"The area is a nice area but people have come in and used it as their toilet. People like ourselves are trying to keep ahead of it, keep it clean. But people come out at nighttime and do this, so if they're doing it at nighttime they obviously know it's illegal."
Belfast City Council have been approached for comment.
