Paper Petition

Paper petition details

Central Court - Ant Infestation

We the under mentioned residents of Central Court would like to make a complaint regarding the infestation of ants which have taken over our building both in the corridors and in flats. Jackie Seager who lives at number 6 has already rang the council with no satisfactory reply. People have bought ant killer at their own expense and sprayed the corridors but we cannot get rid of them. We now ask you that something is done about this infestation as we are now fed up with this problem. We look forward to hearing from you regarding this problem. The residents of Central Court.

A petition to address concerns about an ant infestation in Central Court, Coalville.

On reaching 1000 signatures the head of the relevant department will be made aware of the matter.

This Paper petition ran from 26/06/2020 to 12/07/2020 and has now finished.

16 people signed this Paper petition.

Council response

I write in respect of your petition which was delivered to me by Councillor Legrys. I have considered the content of the petition against the Council’s published petition scheme. The scheme determines what petitions the Council can accept and what steps the Council can take when it receives a valid petition. Your petition has 16 valid signatures. On the face of it, it is an Ordinary Petition under the Council’s scheme. I am pleased to be able to offer you the following information regarding our direct action to resolve the problems you are facing as residents.

I am sure you can appreciate that the current Covid 19 restrictions have affected our ability to react as swiftly as we would have liked, and I want to reassure you that we are moving as quickly as we can to find a lasting solution to this problem, in partnership with the pest control experts we need to work with on this.

Since we were made aware of the problem with flying ants in Central Court we’ve not only been working to try to both reduce the current problem and also find a longer term solution.

Our initial actions have concentrated on sealing insect access gaps between the walls of flats 6 & 8 and in the main corridor. Whilst we’ve been able to reduce the number of insects present we cannot fully seal the building due to the design of the service ducts that run under the corridors and into the flats, which we cannot access. We are checking the building regularly and since carrying out the sealing work, we have identified a reduction in the number of ants inside.

However as this has not solved the problem, just reduced it, so we have continued to work closely with the Council’s Environmental Health Officers to find a suitable treatment we are able to use inside to further control this outbreak, and to treat the building next year to reduce the chances of an outbreak reoccurring.

I am pleased to advise that a suitable product has now been identified and ordered and our Environmental Health Officer will be visiting Central Court next week to apply the treatment, using the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment for Covid-19. The treatment area will be focussed on the main corridor and we will also need access to the affected flats with the tenants permission. We understand those flats to be No’s 6,7 & 8. The tenants are being contacted directly to make the arrangements for them to be out of their flats for only half an hour or so whilst the treatment is completed. Although the day room at the scheme is currently closed due to Covid-19 restrictions we are looking to make it available on a temporary basis, to enable the residents from the affected flats to vacate their home while the treatment takes place.

We will continue to monitor the situation after the treatment has been completed, to determine whether we need to do anything further this year, however this is not expected to be necessary.

To reduce the risks of this reoccurring next year, we will apply a further treatment in late February/early March 2021 which will kill any remaining ants and stop a re-infestation next year.

I trust this response addresses the concerns expressed in your petition, if you require further information on the action being taken then please contact Chris Lambert, Head of Housing at chris.lambert@nwleicestershire.gov.uk