Manurewa locals forced to live with stench from rubbish-filled property for months

Neighbours in a South Auckland cul-de-sac have been living with the stench of rotting food wafting from hundreds of full rubbish bags and household waste for months now.

Auckland Council has issued the owner of the Manurewa section that's turned into a rubbish dump with a notice to clear the land - but months later, nothing's changed.

Angela Castles reported the huge amount of rubbish to the council after its stench became too unsavoury to live near. She told Newshub it had been sitting there for months.

"It has been here for around four months from what I can recall - we first reported it about three months ago," she said.

That's when Angela Castles took these photos.

Manurewa locals forced to live with stench from rubbish-filled property for months
Photo credit: Angela Castles

"Some of it has been taken away by Auckland Council but because it is private property it's hard for them to get the land owner to remove the rubbish that's inside the property."

Auckland Council says it's issued the owner with a notice to clear the land seven days ago, but the owner still has another seven days to get rid of it.

In the meantime, they can only sticker items that have been left on public land.

Local board chair Angela Dalton says she's had enough.

"It is unacceptable that our residents here are living with this next door to them and I don't know of anybody else within Auckland Council who would put up with this."

One neighbour says most of this rubbish has been dumped in recent weeks when the normal rubbish collection hasn't come on its usual days.

The strong stench of rotten food coming off the rubbish is the perfect environment for a thriving rat population.

The council says long-term, it may get the landowner to fully fence the property to deter dumpers - but until then, it may be difficult to stop this snowballing even further.

Newshub.