Complaints about anti-social behaviour continue to be received by Keswick Town Council’s holiday let nuisance reporting system which went live last year.
Members of the council were due to hear at their April meeting last night about the dumping of rubbish on Blencathra Street and a noise disturbance which woke guests staying at a guest house in Helvellyn Street at 3am.
A resident of Blencathra Street reported that rubbish had just been dumped in the back lane which was becoming a regular problem. The complaint said that on Monday April 1 the two normal-sized bins – green and black – were full of recycling and rubbish, and three black bin bags were placed behind the property along with a paper bag and folded up cardboard box.
The complainant said that it started raining in the afternoon and both the bins were emptied but the black plastic bags were left behind and had been opened by crows or rats. The cardboard box also remained and an address was found on it.
Cllr Louise Dunn contacted Cumberland Council and reported the incident as fly-tipping and received a positive response. The council sent an officer to the address to ensure the waste was collected and a fixed penalty notice was sent to the address on the box.
The other complaint was made by guests who had stayed in a guest house on Helvellyn Street who complained on departure to the owner that there was “a lot of noise” coming from a holiday let nearby which disrupted their sleep. One member of the party said they had been woken at 3am due to the noise from the neighbouring property disturbing their dog.
The idea of setting up the reporting system was unanimously agreed at a meeting of the town council last September. At that meeting councillors heard that there was a lack of data being collected to quantify the size, scale and seriousness of the problem of anti-social behaviour emanating from unmanaged holiday lets.
Complaints can be made on the town council home page (www.keswicktowncouncil.gov.uk) and scrolling down to a blue icon labelled holiday nuisance complaints.
People can also call into the town council offices to make a complaint.
