Grandfather collects 263 bags of rubbish from filthy streets after residents are left fed up

By Tara O’Connor, local democracy reporter

A Croydon grandfather has told how he collected 263 bags of rubbish from the filthy streets of Norbury.

Rubbish strewn across the street attracting rats and foxes is a regular sight one part of Norbury, according to fed up residents.

Ken Lloyd (pictured top) says he has been complaining to Croydon Council about the state of Isham Road and the surrounding area since 2018.

Every morning he takes a bag and litter picker out with him when he walks his dog Tia.

So far this year the 71-year-old has collected a 263 bags of rubbish and reported hundreds fly tips and street cleaning requests to the council.

In Isham Road there is a square of houses and flats which are accessed by stairs from the street.

Residents here have to take their bin bags down to the road on collection day where they are torn up by foxes and rats.

Ken said: “The rubbish in the streets has escalated. The worst day is on Thursday where each resident beings their bags of rubbish down.

“The foxes rip them apart and the whole area is covered with litter.”

To address the problem, the council built a bin store for the square of homes.

And though work was completed in February the new shed has still not opened to residents.

Nicola Smith, 36, has lived in one of the affected houses for seven years and says she hasn’t heard anything from the council about what the reason for the delay is.

She says the area outside her house where her children is often littered with rubbish. Like Ken she takes it on herself to pick up the rubbish.

The mum of three said: “It’s horrible, my kids are out here every day. The council needs to pull their finger out, it is just awful.

“I complain to the council about it all the time but they just don’t care. It’s not nice, why are we paying our council tax for this?”