Hot weather has brought weekly trash collection issues to a boiling point at a roadside pick-up point in Pembroke beset by a “rat community”.

The fenced enclosure, at the corner of Serpentine Road and Market Lane, also ends up “full to the brim” and cluttered with loose litter from passers-by, a resident said.

The woman, who requested not to be identified, said she had called environmental health officers who assisted with eliminating some of the rodents drawn to the garbage.

“I don’t live next door but rats keep coming onto our property,” she said. “The staff came and put traps around our property, but if you don’t get to the source of the problem, it keeps happening.”

Trash collection, formerly twice weekly, switched to once a week in 2018 – with Lieutenant-Colonel David Burch, the public works minister, explaining the move was needed to keep the schedule reliable.

Maintenance problems with the fleet alone with high overtime costs were among factors in the decision.

Collection problems resurfaced on Wednesday with a backlog blamed on a snag in the maintenance schedule because of holidays and training time.

The Serpentine Road resident told The Royal Gazette: “I understand the trash collection problems, but there are some situations like this one where once a week is inadequate. What does it take?”

The collection point was piled up this week with residential rather than commercial waste ahead of collection day on Wednesday.

The narrow Market Lane is inaccessible to trash trucks, the resident said.

But the fenced area at the corner is open to rats – and pedestrians discard loose bottles and food waste in the enclosure, which ends up as roadside litter.

The resident said: “Works and Engineering empty what is in bags, but the remainder stays in the bottom of the unit which no one cleans up – creating a rat community.

“This is an absolute eyesore to visitors and residents. Maybe someone in Government can give consideration of a solution such as more frequent pick-up.”

She said the Environmental Health Unit would be aware of “previous complaints from residents”.

A query to the ministry did not receive a response by press time.