DISGUSTED residents are calling for action to be taken to clear up fly-tipped waste, including human faeces, behind a former restaurant in Clacton town centre.

Mattresses, tyres, sofas, carpets and bags of rubbish, along with human waste, have been dumped behind the closed Spice Village restaurant in Rosemary Road.

Residents in neighbouring Rosemary Crescent claim the back yard, which is visible from the main road, has become a dumping ground in recent months.

One resident, who asked not to be named, said: “The restaurant has been closed for 18 months, but since June we believe there have been squatters in the building because the windows have been open. They climb on residents’ garages to get up there.

“As far as we know, there’s no running water inside. Bags of poo have now been left outside.

“It really isn’t very nice to look at – it’s disgusting.

“We have had a sofa appear and there was a television there for a while. There was also a down and out sleeping outside there.

“The waste has built up even more with bags of rubbish and then human waste was dumped there on Saturday. We phoned the council, but it said there’s nothing it can do about it because it is private property.

“But the waste has encroached on the pavement – there was even a washing machine there.

“It has got worse and worse and it is an environmental health problem – there are rats in there.

“We want something done about it before the problems get even worse.”

Another resident said there has been an issue with drug users and dealers using the road to carry out transactions. She claimed drug users sit on the walls of nearby homes while they wait.

Nigel Brown, Tendring Council’s communications manager, said the council is aware of this issue and it was reported last week.

He said: “An officer has been out and inspected this privately-owned site and we have sent a letter to the landlord asking for the area to be cleaned up.

“So far we have not had a response and we will be following that up. Should the landlord not take the necessary steps in a reasonable time we would look to take enforcement action. This could involve the council clearing the site and putting a charge on the owner.”

The owner of the property, who is understood to live in Dubai, could not be contacted.