The Greater Manchester areas where rats have been reported most

When it comes to things that make your skin crawl, discovering a rat in your house or back garden probably tops the list.

And, despite many councils making huge efforts to reduce the problem, many residents of Greater Manchester are still plagued by the pesky vermin in and around their homes.

Rat problems hit some areas worse than others - which is why the Local Democracy Reporting Service has created the ‘Greater Manchester Rat League for 2022’.

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After submitting Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to each borough council, data has revealed the worst areas in the region for rat problems last year.

Authorities record the data in different ways so the statistics have been broken down by ward, postcode and area - with some clarifying if the reports came from inside or outside the house (external or internal callouts). It is important to note that some areas are bigger and also have more densely populated communities, which may affect the figures.

The data shows that there were more reports from inside the home than outside. Wigan had the most callouts, but claim that this was because their 'three visit' approach tripled their figures.

For each borough there is a breakdown of data per ward/area as well as each individual council’s response to the numbers revealed by the FOI. Not every council responded.

The region is mid-table for rat reports, with the BL1 postcode looking like the worst area in the borough for reporting vermin. The council say they have a rapid approach to dealing with reports from residents.

A spokesperson for Bolton Council said: “To deal with external issues, we sewer bait the