'Rats are wandering round and I can see the pigeons picking through the trash'

Birmingham residents urge council to settle bin strike as rubbish piles high on streets, fueling fears of fire and disease

- TARA COBHAM HOLLY PATRICK

Rats the size of “small cats” scurrying through the streets in broad daylight, an overpowering stench permeating the air, rubbish pouring out of black bags that are piling up across the city – welcome to the new normal for the people of Birmingham.

Residents are now used to stepping out of their front doors into towering, reeking piles of bin bags right outside their homes, sometimes more than 5ft high. In fact it has become impossible for them to go about their daily lives without being confronted by mounds of rubbish, with an estimated 17,000 tonnes of waste uncollected around the city this week.

Fed-up locals fearing no end in sight say they have resorted to forking out hundreds of pounds to pay privately to have their rubbish removed, as an all-out bin strike that has lasted for weeks continues. Birmingham is only descending further into chaos as the council declared a major incident on Monday and concerns over health and fire risks grow.