Cockroach infestations 'endemic' - council tenant

Recurring cockroach infestations in a Sheffield tower block have become "endemic", a council tenant has claimed.

Writing to a meeting of Sheffield City Council on Thursday, Alisha Wallace said she had reported the pests in Burlington Tower on Martin Street, Upperthorpe, multiple times since 2020.

She said while the council was planning to clean the block, this excluded flats where the occupants refused them access, which meant the problem would not be resolved.

"The scale of the problem is now likely endemic with the ground-floor community room being impacted twice in the space of three months," she wrote to the housing policy committee.

She said the room was used by multiple people for community groups and cooking classes and it was "disappointing this had not been solved way before now".

She added environmental health legislation for statutory nuisance would give the council the power to apply to magistrates to access all flats as necessary.

"How much longer will tenants of Burlington suffer, until the council uses this approach to fully solve the problem?" she wrote.

In a written response, the council said two recent full door-knocking exercises had been undertaken at the block and letters about cockroaches had either been hand-delivered or posted to residents.

It said eight people had reported issues with cockroaches and letters were posted to 16 properties advising about treatment earlier this month, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

But the response was "disappointing", so another door-knocking session was arranged and more letters were sent. Officers were checking to see if multilingual letters were needed.

"If we still fail to gain access, access will be gained, usually through tenancy conditions, or if necessary, relevant public health legislation where required," a statement said.

"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," it added.

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