Witham town centre is being overrun by a plague of rats, claim traders.

Heavy rain has driven normally nocturnal rats from their burrows to forage in the daytime behind Newland Street shops backing on to the Grove shopping centre.

Braintree District Council, which is aware of the problem, spotted up to 20 rats in one day.

Shopper Chris Davies was startled when three rats scuttled from holes in a crumbling brick wall behind a High Street shop and snatched food left for birds under a lime tree on the edge of the the Grove.

"A man sweeping behind one of the shops laughed at my surprise and said the rats were frequent visitors," said Chris, of Wickham Bishops.

"He thought someone put food out for them under the tree. "I was horrified to see them in the daytime in the middle of a crowded shopping place."

A member of the Chamber of Commerce said that her shop, which backs on to the Grove, was frequently raided by rats, which can spread disease in their urine and damage property.

She preferred not to be named, but said: "We are plagued by them. We have had to pay an exterminator to come out and lay down poison.

"The chamber notified the council because it is an environmental health problem."

Grove shopping centre manager Wendy Harlow said: "We pay for a specialist firm to keep them out of the shopping area, but I know they are a problem in the waste ground behind the shops in Newland Street."

Braintree District Council spokeswoman Ann Proudfoot said that rats were cunning and adaptable survivors, and almost impossible to exterminate completely.

Published Friday, February 7, 2003

Brought to you by the Essex Chronicle