All little Archie Springett wants to do is play in his front garden.

But mum Fiona will not let the two-year-old outside because it is strewn with filth including dirty nappies, syringes and broken beer bottles.

Miss Springett, 24, has complained to Gravesham Borough Council on numerous occasions about the rubbish in front of her ground floor council flat at Wallis Court, Northfleet.

Her boyfriend has even offered to pay towards the cost of digging it up and laying down a lawn.

But the couple say their protests over the last 18 months have fallen on deaf ears.
Part of the problem is litter louts but a lot of it is buried rubbish rising to the surface.

When Miss Springett moved in three years ago, it was on the condition the eyesore was cleared up.

She said: “I went away while the work was done but when I got back I found all they had done was bury the rubbish and levelled it off with plywood.

“When myself and a neighbour dug it up, when I was heavily pregnant, we discovered bin-liners down there.

“I was getting rats running around.”

It is now a daily chore for Miss Springett to pick up shards of glass and drug paraphernalia.

Just a few days ago, her young son tried to pick up a lit cigarette that had been discarded.

Miss Springett said Archie was becoming increasingly irritable about not being allowed to ride on his new bike.

She said: “He needs to be out in the sunshine and fresh air.

“It is wrong that a two year-old child should feel trapped in his own home.”

A council spokesman said: “The garden of the property was surface cleaned soon after the tenant moved in.

“We understand that the tenant has been doing some cultivation and fragments of glass have come to the surface.

“A member of the horticulture team will assess the situation this week with a view to rotorvating the garden, raking off the debris, levelling and turfing the area.

"We will try to do this work as quickly as possible.”