A Harrow MP has responded to the borough's "disgusting" rat problem after videos of the vermin went 'viral' online .
Gareth Thomas , MP for Harrow West, has written to the council's chief executive and communities minister, Sajid Javid MP, calling for "urgent measures" to combat the spread of rats.
The plea comes after rats were filmed jumping in and out of rubbish bags dumped on a street in the town centre and shared on social media on Friday July 21.
Flytipping in west London
In a letter to Michael Lockwood, chief executive of Harrow Council , the Labour Party MP acknowledged that the local authority has faced a severe funding squeeze since 2010.
He pointed out that the council have had to make savings of £83m between 2014 and this financial year - but that the CEO is in charge of half of budget and should take action.
Mr Thomas wrote: "It is inevitable that such severe budget cuts would have an impact on services, but I'm sure you will agree that urgent measures are required to combat the spread of rats in our public spaces."
According to the MP, Harrow receives £159 less per head than the average for London boroughs.
He added: "I would be grateful if you could set out what steps the council is taking to tackle rats, particularly in the sites identified in video footage in Greenhill Way and in the area in front of Morrisons .
"Please can you also set out what the council is doing to tackle fly tipping and to encourage residents and businesses to help keep our streets clean?"
The viral videos prompted a swift clean up plan by the council, with a councillor urging the community to "bring pride back" to the borough .
8,000 litterbugs fined last year
Harrow Council says it is "doing lots" to make the borough clean for residents and businesses, it said.
A spokesman said: "This includes deep cleaning hot spots during our days of action and taking tough enforcement on those blighting our borough.
"Our dedicated clean teams remove hundreds of reported fly-tips from our streets and public service roads every day and that includes our special night crew who clear fly-tips into the very early hours.
"Anyone caught making Harrow a dirty and unpleasant place to live will face the full weight of the law. 8,000 litterbugs were fined over the last year.
"And that’s not all, we work closely with traders and local businesses checking they are disposing of waste properly –we have also taken action against shop owners for poor waste disposal and dirty shop fronts.
"Residents should continue to help us keep Harrow clean by reporting to us on harrow.gov.uk/environment .”
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