PEOPLE say a never ending pile of rubbish near a church and a nursery has attracted rats the “size of kittens”.

The bins behind the shops along Lordship Lane, Tottenham, are regularly filled to the brim and mouldy, dirty waste spills out along the pavement.

The rubbish is only collected every three months but the bins quickly fill up again – bringing an infestation of rodents.

Cheryl Brown, the director of Brown Bears Nursery, in Downhills Way, which is near the bins, has had to stop children from playing outside.

The 47-year-old said: “It is absolutely disgusting. Parents pick their children up when it is dark on an evening and it concerns me that rats could dart across the pavement towards them.

“The children also usually play in the garden but this won’t be happening now that I know about the rats.

“The nursery is in an old church hall so rats could also easily come in to the building- which I hope does not happen as I wouldn’t want people to be scared or put off coming to the nursery.”

She called for a camera to be installed in the area to find out who is dumping the rubbish.

Father James Hill, Parish priest at St Benet Fink’s Church, Walpole Road, said: “It is a never ending problem and I certainly would not want parents to stop bringing their children to the nursery or the church if they heard about a problem with rats.

“We hope this issue will be taken seriously by those who have the power to do something about it, as it is unhygienic.”

Justin Hinchcliffe, of Walpole Road, Tottenham, says he has seen the rats scurrying around bin bags.

The 35-year-old said: “The pile of rubbish is like a Chinese buffet to them, where every bag contains a new dish.

“They are as big as kittens and judging by the amount of rubbish available for them to eat, it seems they are being more adequately sheltered and fed than some people in Haringey.”

Mr Hinchcliffe, the chairman of the Tottenham Conservatives, said the area had become a dumping ground.

He added: “It is awful and very depressing. It is an eyesore that will start to smell when the weather gets warmer.

“Even if it gets moved, it will just build up again, so there needs to be a different solution.”

A Haringey Council spokesperson said: “We’re aware of concerns about these bins, which are on private land that does not form part of the council and Veolia’s regular waste collection service.

“It is the landowners’ responsibility to arrange frequent waste collections from this property. We are aware that this land has recently been sold and we are trying to trace the new owner.”

“The residents of the flats above shops have been visited by council officers and advised that they should place their waste at the front of the property on Lordship Lane for collection, not in the alleyway.

“We hope that the new landowners will work with us to make it clear to residents how to correctly dispose of their waste.”