Families in flats plagued by infestation of flies share 'unbearable' agony

Dozens of disgusted tower block residents have been unable to open their windows for weeks after thousands of flies infested their building.

Photographs show cluster flies - much bigger than houseflies - buzzing around windows and inside flats on the top floor of the Robertshaw building in Netherthorpe, Sheffield. It is thought the cluster flies travel from the Peak District to the building so they can hibernate and lay their eggs in the cladding over the winter before emerging again in the spring.

But the problem has become extremely challenging for the residents, with one describing it as "unbearable". Peter MacLoughlin, 81, said: "I'm fed up of it, to be honest - it's become unbearable. You cannot open your windows at all or they will get inside, and with no fresh air you end up living in a stuffy flat where any mistake means flies getting into your home and into your food.

"I cannot use fly spray because of a medical conditions I have with my chest. We left a window open by mistake last night and had to spend two hours squashing them with a damp cloth. It cannot carry on like this."

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A council spokesperson said a second survey to address the issue was commissioned this week, and common methods of exterminating the flies pose a risk to other wildlife.

But Peter, a former Sheffield cabinet member for housing, feels more can be done to help his community at the Robertshaw building. He continued: "The council has the audacity to complain about private sector landlords but are deaf to issues when it's their own properties.

"The number of times I've complained about it only to be told it's the job of another department, or told they can't because of budget, or just passed from pillar to post.

"I'm sorry but I've had enough of it. If I can't get a response or action from the council, when I'm a former cabinet member who knows the system, what about all the vulnerable people in all these flats? What hope do they have?" His ire is echoed by further residents and families, who have talked to local media.

The pensioner moved into Robertshaw in 1988 and says the cluster fly infestations began in the late 1990s when the block's cladding was refurbished by the North West Inner City Action Plan (NWICAP) Single Regeneration Budget1 (SRB).

However, the new aluminium cladding has gaps in many places - a perfect place for the swarming pest to shelter in autumn after migrating into Sheffield from the Peak District. Then, when the weather turns colder, they burrow into gaps and lay their eggs, which hatch in spring.

A spokesperson for Sheffield City Council, which has had no overall political control since 2021, said surveys have previously been conducted to address the flies, but that "usual treatments" pose a risk to other wildlife.

The spokesperson said: "Other actions have been suggested to tenants, which have been rejected. Another environmental survey has been commissioned for this week which will at possible ways to clear the flies without harming other wildlife."