Martens Lane dubbed the ‘Mosman slums’ thanks to overflowing bins and vermin

AN area of Sydney’s most affluent harbourside suburbs has been declared a slum by residents, who say it is full of vermin because of poor rubbish management.

AN area of Mosman — one of Sydney’s most affluent harbourside suburbs — is being described by some residents as a slum.

As a result of rubbish being dumped, one section of the suburb that is home to many a millionaire’s mansion, is looking a bit squalid.

Resident Michael ­Morton-Evans has singled out parts of Martens Lane as the problem because it is constantly blighted by piles of rubbish.

Mosman is one of Sydney’s most exclusive areas but residents say part of the municipality has been turned into a slum.

He has even dubbed the area the “Mosman slums” — hard to believe given the sizeable price tag of real estate in the area. But just another problem facing the suburb after a recent spate of vandalism involving public property and issues with rubbish polluting Balmoral Beach.

Mr Morton-Evans said bins which sat out in the open near Middle Head Rd were regularly overfilled, leaving rubbish littered all over the footpath and road.

“The crows then attack the plastic bags, rip them open and that distributes food all over the area,” Mr Morton-Evans said.

“At night, the rats come. It really is revolting.”

Mr Morton-Evans said the problem had “been going on for a long time”.

He said he had first ­approached Mosman Council about six months ago over the issue and had alerted it to the rubbish situation twice in the months since.

Rubbish strewn over Martens Lane.

But little had been achieved, Mr Morton-Evans said.

“They’ve sent people down,” he said.

“It’s fine for a bit and then people start ignoring it again and overfill their bins.”

He said the bins needed to be in a contained space.

“The problem will continue as long as people overfill their bins and the bins are kept out in the open,” he said.

“The solution to it has got to be that every unit must have dedicated bin rooms so the bins are contained.”

The overflowing bins attract crows, who pick at the bags.

Mr Morton-Evans said that approach seemed to work fine with bins up towards Raglan St.

He said it was “unbelievable that there are people in this municipality who think so little of the environment that they were prepared to overfill their bins with food waste every week”.

Mosman Council said it was “aware of unsightly rubbish from commercial premises being left in bins on private property in the area”.

“Waste cannot be collected along Military Road and therefore bins need to be placed in service lanes such as Martens Lane,” a spokeswoman said.

“Council has implemented or plans to implement a number of management options, including fitting locks to bins to prevent overfilling, a strategy which has already shown satisfactory outcomes and Council has also asked commercial waste services to implement similar schemes.

“Council has cleared any dumps it becomes aware of to keep the lane neat and tidy. In the past six months Council has only received a few complaints, all of which were about dumped rubbish and which were cleared efficiently.”

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