A ROW has broken out after rats appeared in a village pond.

An article in the latest edition of Haddenham Village News has asked residents not to leave grain for ducks at Banks Pond as this was attracting rats.

Diana Alderson, 87, of Station Road, told the annual meeting of the parish council on Friday, that she was not the cause of rats by Bank Pond.

Miss Alderson said: "I did leave a little grain down one morning but the main cause of rats is the rubbish bin down there. There's no lid on it.

"I've seen rats coming out of it with sausage rolls. If you're really worried about rats, you should put a lid on it."

She said there was nothing wrong with a few rodents and these were water rats.

Miss Alderson said: "I don't see why there's all this bother. Rats are the best cleaners-up there are."

Miss Alderson criticised the parish council about the pond.

"It's a rubbish dump. It's the most disgusting pond that there ever was and the parish council is doing nothing about it."

But the council's environment committee chairman, Enid Robinson, said there were people who did not like the rats and wanted them to go.

Parish councillors said that, due to a quirk of ownership, the parish council only owned the pond itself but not the areas around the water and therefore needed permission to get to the pond to clean it.

Parish clerk Gill Dudley said: "The council owns the pond but not the surrounding land so it's difficult to walk over the land to do anything about the pond. It's very strange."

She added that the land was owned by Mr Bowers, who lives near Torquay. He bought the parade of shops near the pond, which included the land surrounding the water.

Permission to get to the pond has now been granted but Cllr Mike Whitney said the clean-up would be difficult as, unlike other pools, Banks Pond does not dry out in the summer.