Life on the 'forgotten' south Manchester estate where 'rats plague the streets' and 'mice fester in the walls'

A ‘forgotten’ South Manchester estate overrun with ‘huge’ rat and mice infestations is so severe residents feel like ‘prisoners in their own home’.

People living on Avian Drive and Bethnall Estate, in Fallowfield, claim mice fester in homes, rats mount fences, pests die and decay in their gardens, and cr** is left in their sheds.

Ann Geraghty, 55, has watched the area - off Yew Tree Road - decline into an ‘unbearable’ state and fears ‘this norm’ will never end.

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"The estate is infested with rats, you see them every day - it’s become unbearable. I had a dead one in my back garden, pest control couldn’t believe the size of the thing. It was huge," she said told the M.E.N.

"I also had my niece and nephew round in the garden when one walked over the fence, it shouldn’t be the norm. It’s like we just expect it. I feel like I can’t let the kids out. We're living in a nightmare here.

The long-standing resident of 18 years said the land in between Yew Tree Road and Avian Drive, and green space on Bethnall and Sopwith Drive is the vermin's ‘breeding ground’.

Ann claims residents have pleaded with One Manchester to get rid of the overgrown bushes and uproot the rat burrows after it was recently contested the housing association owns the patches of land.

"We questioned for years the upkeep of the estate and now it’s unbelievable with rats. It’s as though they [One Manchester] concentrated on green space but it wasn’t maintained and has become overgrown with rubbish and nests. It really is awful all around the estate," Ann said.

She added: "We were told changes would be made but the grass was cut once and we’ve never heard since,