Residents of a street in Tenby that leads down to the seafront are ‘up in arms’ about a lack of communication over waste collection that has led to the area being strewn with rubbish.

One of the resident’s of St. Mary’s Street (who did not wish to be named in the paper), said that the problem has been ongoing ‘everyday, for months’ and despite complaining to Pembrokeshire County Council’s environmental waste department and the town council, the matter is simply not being dealt with.

“The problem appears to stem from a lack of communication between the owner of this particular property and the specialist waste collection team that is required to remove this rubbish, as a lot of the waste includes medical gloves and other such items, disposed by carers that visit the premises,” said one of the complainants.

“The bags put in wheelie bins are over-flowing because the collection service team are refusing to lift them over the iron fencing where the are kept outside the property. This is leading to seagulls attacking the bins and carrying all manner of waste down the street.

“We have no complaints over the every day waste collection team, who do a great job in Tenby, but whoever should be dealing with this type of waste, is not doing their job, and the county council need to seriously deal with it ASAP, as it’s quite disgusting the state that the street gets into, and no-one wants to see such items as blue medical gloves and hypodermic needles across the pavements and road!

“This has been going on everyday for months, and all of us who reside on the street are up in arms about it. I’ve personally complained to Pembrokeshire County Council’s pollution control team officer Nathan Miles, so they have my complaint on record, but nothing is being done to resolve this. I’ve also complained to the town council on behalf of the residents, but we seem to be getting nowhere, so the press is our last hope!” they added.

When contacted by the Observer, a spokesperson for Pembrokeshire County Council said that they were trying to work towards a resolution.

“We are aware of the ongoing problems at this address and have attempted to contact the occupants via correspondence and door knocking – the latter even as recently as this morning (Thursday, May 17) – but to no avail.

“There are real concerns for the safety of our operatives inasmuch as they have to reach over spiked railings to retrieve these bags.

“They are instructed to only remove bags which are in easy reach.

“We are also concerned about the contents - especially with mention that they may contain hypodermic needles.

“In effect they would be reaching into wheelie bins unable to see what they are retrieving.

“We will continue to monitor and try to implement actions to improve the current situation,” they added.