A rat-infested pile of stinking rubbish has turned an alley near homes and restaurants into an eyesore and health risk.

Neighbours have complained for seven months about the mass of rubbish but instead of being cleared the pile grows bigger.

Residents near the alley, running behind Church Road in Hove, adjacent to the Tin Drum public house, say they are at their wits end after a volley of phone calls to the council and letting agents.

The rubbish is now waist-high and residents complain it is a health risk, especially now rats have been spotted.

Darren Miller, 30, a bus driver, has been making phone calls to Brighton and Hove City Council since November.

He said: "It's getting bigger and bigger. I've rung the council so many times and nobody wants to do anything about it. It's grim and I seem to be getting nowhere with anybody in this town.

"We just don't know who's doing it. Every now and again there's a little bit more thrown on top."

Enrique, owner of Latinos restaurant backing on to the alley, said: "Nobody knows who owns it. It's been like that for years. There's nothing we can do about it."

The pile began last year when builders had a skip blocking the alley.

Residents eventually forced them to remove the skip but the rubbish was left and has been regularly added to.

Terry Keevil, 34, said his front door is right next to the pile. He has rung CityClean, the council's health and safety team, letting agents and builders. He said: "Everyone's been promising for months to get back to me. They all say 'we are looking into it' but they pass the buck from one to the other.

"It's now summer and it stinks. They should at least know who owns the land.

"If it was a main road there wouldn't be a choice but because we're stuck out of the way and it's not a public eyesore nobody seems to care about it.

"The rats even come out in the day now because there are so many breeding in there.

"When people put black bags out they just rip them up."

A spokesman for the council said: "It's private land. An enforcement officer has been there but found no evidence.

"Rubbish has been left because cars are blocking access."

He said council officers were going to try to remove it last night, if they could gain access.

Council Leader Simon Burgess said: "We are trying to arrange a meeting with police and the fire brigade about access there.

"The problem is we cannot get past the parked cars.

"We can also do a land search to look into who owns the land.

"This has got to be dealt with once and for all."

Letting agents were unavailable for comment last night.