Conwy council have been commended for their clean streets despite reports from the public of rats and overflowing bins.

In July, Keep Wales Tidy carried out an inspection of 118 of Conwy’s streets, with the county commended because 97.5 per cent of the inspected streets were graded B and above – streets considered by members of the public to have an acceptable level of cleanliness.

Keep Wales Tidy said overall standards of cleanliness in the area continue to be well above the national average recorded in Wales.

Conwy County Borough Council (CCBC) said it is exceeding its cleanliness targets and is above levels recorded in the corresponding survey last year.

CCBC cabinet member for environment, Cllr Don Milne, said: “We know that the cleanliness of our environment is of great importance to Conwy residents and it’s a priority for the council.

"We call on the people of Conwy to keep playing their part in keeping the streets clean, and urge members of the public to report incidents affecting the cleanliness of the county.

"I’d like to thank the staff for all the effort they put into their work, often in difficult weather conditions. This is the 12th survey to have taken place and this result shows Conwy is taking these responsibilities seriously. Well done."

But public reports of rat sightings and overflowing bins say otherwise. Colwyn Bay resident, Alex Bryers, took to social media recently uploading a video of a large rat running through the streets of Llandudno.

North Wales Pioneer:

Bins on John Street, Llandudno, near where the rat was seen. Picture: Kerry Roberts

Mrs Bryers also said overflowing bins were beginning to become a problem in Colwyn Bay since the introduction of four-weekly waste collections.

She said: "Considering CCBC are increasing council tax, it’s disgusting having four weekly collections.

"Where I live in the Bay there’s bin bags which have fallen out of over flowing bins, and the bin men won’t touch them if they’re not in the bins.

"No wonder there’s rats."

But CCBC's environment, roads and facilities sector continued to say there were no issues since the introduction of the four-weekly collections.

Cabinet member for environment, roads and facilities, cllr Donald Milne, said: "Since we introduced four-weekly bin collections, most households have had no problem making the change – they are using the weekly recycling collections to keep space in their bins for non-recyclable waste.

"We provide a weekly waste food collection service in lockable containers, which means there shouldn’t be anything in the general waste bins to attract rats or other pests."

The Pioneer reported in September that there had been an increase in rats across the county with sightings in Llandudno and as far away as Penmaenmawr.

Since then the four-weekly collections have been introduced.

All this came after the Keep Wales Tidy visit, which took place in July.