A WOMAN feels she has been “fobbed off” by her council after fly tipped asbestos has been left decaying in an alleyway behind her house for months.

She said the potentially toxic materials were making it difficult to get the bins out and was raising health concerns among neighbours.

In June, rubbish and old roofing panels were fly tipped in a gated alleyway behind Mallaby Street in Birkenhead. It has remained there ever since underneath a fly tipping warning sign with barriers put up around it by Wirral Council.

The local authority said the reason for the delay was because the flytipping is on private land meaning it is not the responsibility of Wirral Council to clear it up. The local authority said a housing association had been told to remove the rubbish and offered to help.

However a woman living on the street, who asked to remain anonymous, said she felt fobbed off by the council.

She claimed the council had promised to clear it up and told her it was asbestos and not to touch it. However, with the asbestos reportedly blocking part of the alleyway, the woman told the LDRS: “We can’t get work done on the house. We can’t even get the bins out. My husband has had to move it himself.”

Asbestos is a toxic substance that was routinely used in construction work for decades until its ban in 1999 but now contributes to thousands of deaths a year. The Health and Safety Executive said: “When materials that contain asbestos are disturbed or damaged, fibres are released into the air.

“When these fibres are inhaled they can cause serious diseases. These diseases will not affect you immediately; they often take a long time to develop, but once diagnosed, it is often too late to do anything.”

The woman said: “It’s frustrating because is our health at risk because of this exposure to asbestos?,” adding: “There’s just no care. There is just no care. There’s no duty of care from the council. If it was in Birkenhead Park, it would be cleared straight away. If it was in the middle of the road, it would be cleared. It’s the fact it’s in an alleyway.”

The woman said others on the street had similar concerns and had tried to contact the council on numerous occasions, including contacting her ward councillor Liz Grey.

Cllr Grey said: “It is not usually so straightforward to interfere with private land. I am always appalled by fly tipping and littering generally.

“It is a crime, and it is not a victimless crime as innocent residents have to live with the blight. The Council will have to spend money on clearing this and that money could be spent on other valuable services. I would urge any residents affected by littering and fly tipping to let us know immediately if they have any proof to identify those responsible for this costly and upsetting crime.”

A Wirral Council spokesperson said: “Officers have been investigating this issue over a number of months, with a dual purpose to identify who owns the land where the waste was left and who might have been responsible for tipping it.

“We understand and sympathise with residents that while that process has been ongoing the rubbish – which does contain some asbestos – has remained in situ. This is because the council will not clear private land at public expense – that responsibility lies with the landowner.

“We have now concluded that the land where this waste was left is owned by a housing association and we have notified them of their requirement to remove and dispose of it as soon as possible – and we have offered to support them with this if necessary.”