MPs and mayor forced to step in over families living in 'life-threatening squalor' as shocking videos show rat infestation

23.08.2022 - 16:45 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Three Greater Manchester MPs and Salford mayor Paul Dennett have urged social housing bosses to take urgent action over the "life-threatening squalor" some tenants are living in. This follows the revelation that an entire row of terraced houses owned by housing association Salix Homes is teeming with rats and mice.

A letter to the chief executives of Salix, Irwell Valley Homes, Great Places, Pendleton Together, For Housing, Mosscare St Vincent's and Onward Homes has been signed by MPs Rebecca Long-Bailey (Salford and Eccles), Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) and Graham Stringer (Blackley and Broughton) as well as Mr Dennett.

Their action has been prompted by a group of residents in Rake Lane, Swinton who say they have been traumatised by rats, mice and flies for months. There are also issues of black mould in the homes. The residents say they approached Ms Long-Bailey and the Local Democracy Reporting Service in "desperation" when attempts to get the infestations dealt with failed.

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Although Salix has offered to rehouse one of the residents who produced medical evidence of her distress, three other mothers with young children - one of whom is pregnant - and other residents in the row say the rats and flies are making their lives 'intolerable'. Meanwhile, Salford City Council has agreed that there is a wider environmental problem creating the problem in Rake Lane, which is near a waste disposal tip and a recycling facility.

A spokesperson said: “Our officers are working with partners to get the problem resolved. We have already provided some pest control treatments in the area and will