IRATE neighbours plagued with dumped mattresses and abandoned fridges are demanding more action to stop the fly-tipping which has become the scourge of their street.

Families in St David’s Close, Wembley, have been putting up with the eyesore of large amounts of rubbish being left by unscrupulous night-time visitors to the road for months, and hope a Brent Council blitz helps to solve the problem, which is attracting vermin.

Vipin Shah owns the three patches of land which used to be garages, two of which are now empty, and says he has to clear the mess roughly every two months when it builds up.

He said: “I have owned the land for more than 10 years.

“A few years ago I had it fenced off but the council put an enforcement notice for us to take it down.

“As soon as the rubbish builds up I go down and clear it but it is an ongoing saga, and in December I had it cleared completely.”

Mr Shah said that enough rubbish to fill a 16 cubic yard skip can build up over the course of just eight weeks.

He added: “I would like to put a dwelling up there but it was refused a few years ago.

“The permanent solution would be to have a brick wall to block off the area.”

Neighbour Rochelle Motha, 38, said: “The land is abandoned and people come late at night and dump stuff.

“I bought my property eight years ago and in that time it has become unimaginably bad.

“There are a lot of kids living here and we want it to be a safe and decent neighbourhood. There is no signage to tell people not to dump things there.”

Her neighbour Richard Wimberley, who is in his 70s, added: “There is a big problem, and we can’t catch anyone who is doing it.

“It is not people living in the road. The rubbish which piles up attracts rats and it can smell as well. It is very unpleasant.”

Neighbours’ hopes were raised when Labour-run Brent Council announced in December it was launching a New Year crackdown on fly-tipping and grime in the borough.

Streets will be cleaned on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and each of the 21 wards will get their own dedicated street sweeper, while rubbish which has been fly-tipped will also be removed as quickly as possible.

Brent Council’s head of recycling and waste, Chris Whyte, said: “The land in question is private so it is the owner’s responsibility to keep it clear of rubbish.

“However, we would like to reassure all residents that we will do all we can to catch and prosecute fly tippers and have just launched an aggressive public awareness campaign to help accomplish this.

“We would also like to remind anyone who fly tips that they can be fined up to £50,000.”

Councillor Jim Moher (Labour), the council’s lead member for highways and transportation, said: “This blitz on litter, dirt and flytips will see some of the worst spots in the area dealt with and cleaned up.

“Our residents hate dirty streets and rightly expect that their neighbourhoods are tidy and litter-free and, from the new year, that’s what we’ll deliver.

“We are committed to dealing with these worst spots of fly-tipping and litter and making sure that we have cleaner and greener streets everywhere in Brent.”