Piles of rubbish are littering the pavements of Birmingham on the first anniversary of the city's unprecedented bin strikes.

Locals claim rats have started swarming their streets as they loot discarded food waste dumped on pavements.

Union members began a series of one-day strikes on January 6 last year, before an all-out strike was launched on March 11.

Workers are protesting hefty pay cuts after their wages were reduced by as much as £8,000.

The city council was forced to set up refuse spots and hire agency workers to tackle the piling waste.

But a year on and the UK's second largest city is still plagued by overflowing bins and clogged streets.

Grim pictures from the Small Heath area show snow-covered bin bags piled high.

Other images show overflowing wheelie bins and countless black bags dumped on the street.

Cardboard boxes, used gas cannisters and bin strike merchandise were among the dumped waste.

Mum-of-two Panseluta blasted the council for its failures and said rubbish was encouraging rats to swarm the streets.

She said: "This has been bad here for six or seven months. There's bags everywhere, rubbish everywhere. It's cleaner now but before there was too many rubbish. "

"You can't walk or go outside at night because the rats are so big, you can't walk."

"You can't walk through the streets because of the rubbish. I've been here six years, but this road is so bad. It's a little bit cleaner as they've started taking some waste."

"Every week you have to take the bins and bags to keep it clean. But if you leave it like this, that's when the rats come."

"I don't want my children to go outside to play, it's infection everywhere."

Hockley resident Stephen Message claims some locals are taking advantage of the strikes and dumping waste wherever they can.

He said: "People are taking advantage of the fact that there's a waste bin and they're just dumping rubbish whenever they want."

"Who in their right mind is going to want to sit on this bench and have a view of the canal with this here?"

"I just think it's horrible, it just shows they [fly-tippers] have no consideration for the community."

Birmingham local Shafaq Hussain said: "They're not mediating, walking away, not being transparent to the community and nobody actually knows what's the deadlock."

Marie Notarantonio added: "I think council and union reps need their heads banging together."

In a statement, Unite said: "Our members resolve remains rock solid in the face of the council's attempt to scapegoat and punish them for the mess politicians have made in Birmingham."

"There will be no end to the strikes, until there's a fair deal for Birmingham's bin workers."

Community leader and bishop Desmond Jaddoo is leading a rally later this month to protest against the Labour-run council's handling of the dispute.

He said: "It is unacceptable that negotiations are being delayed when Unite is ready and willing to work with the council. "

"We must ask: who is really in control of Birmingham City Council? "

"Commissioners who do not live in the city are making decisions that affect the health and safety of our communities. "

"Enough is Enough. We no longer want our city to be defined as dirty with mass rat infestation."