We may very well be pressured to pay a staggering clean-up invoice for a mountain of garbage left by an delinquent household close to our house

Residents living next to a monstrous pile of junk have won their battle to clean up the eyesore – but at a price.

The family who built up the sprawling heap of scrap, including old bikes, hazardous gas canisters, and bath tubs, were given their marching orders by council bosses a year ago.

But the mountain of metal – which has accumulated since 2021 – remained behind as blight on the village of Thorngumbald in East Yorkshire.

A massive clean-up operation was demanded by irate residents unable to sell their homes and the site has now been largely cleared.

Residents living next to a monstrous pile of junk have won their battle to clean up the eyesore, in Thorngumbald, East Yorkshire

The family who built up the sprawling heap of scrap, including old bikes, hazardous gas canisters, and bath tubs, were given their marching orders by council bosses a year ago

The mountain of metal – which has accumulated since 2021 – remained behind as blight on the village 

The house is still uninhabitable and questions remain as to who will pick up the £40k bill for the weeks of work 

The house is still uninhabitable and questions remain as to who will pick up the £40k bill for the two weeks of work involving 14 huge skips and 15 big lorries.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council is hoping to claw some of the cash back when the house is sold via a charging order.

But with no prospect of the wrecked property selling soon hard-pressed local charge payers face picking up the bill.

Residents however are relieved that the eyesore has been removed amid fears it could be a fire hazard and attract rats and other vermin.

Gary Morrad, 62, a printer, who lives next door, said: ‘It was an absolute eyesore before. Words fail me. It took two weeks to clear it. It took 14 industrial skips.

Residents are relieved that the eyesore has been removed amid fears it could be a fire hazard and attract rats and other vermin

Gary Morrad, 62, a printer, who lives next door, said: ‘It was an absolute eyesore before. Words fail me. It took two weeks to clear it. It took 14 industrial skips’

‘They had to close the road. They were talking about putting a charge on the house to get some of the money back.

‘But the house is not safe to live in. There are holes in the brick and the inside is a complete wreck.

‘It is a shame because it would make a lovely home. We used to get the scrap hunters going down.

‘I was having a cup of tea on a Sunday morning when these three lads came out pleased as punch with all the crap they had collected.

‘It is nice and quiet now. The parish council got things moving after we wrote to our MP.’

It is understood the problems began when the original house-holder fell ill and had to go into a home.

A massive clean-up operation was demanded by irate residents unable to sell their homes and the site has now been largely cleared. Here the site is pictured after the clean-up 

It is understood the problems began when the original house-holder fell ill and had to go into a home. Members of his family circle then began stock piling scrap around a rotting caravan, apparently piling much of it in the back of an old lorry

Members of his family circle then began stock piling scrap around a rotting caravan, apparently piling much of it in the back of an old lorry.

Another neighbour Kathy, 84, a retired bus conductress who did not want to give her second name, has lived in the same house for 64 years.

She said: ‘It was all right when the original owner lived there but he collapsed with a stroke and had to go into a home.

‘It did not smell but people wanting to sell their houses could not get rid of them.

‘People used to come down to take pictures of it. We should have sold tickets. People still come down looking for it.

‘We even saw one or two rats. We keep our own garden tidy and had to live next door to that. A lad who lived there used to make bikes out the scrap and ride up and down on them.

‘When they cleared all the old bath tubs and bikes they found a caravan and lorry buried under there. The workmen could not believe it.’