WHEN it comes to things that make your skin crawl, discovering a rat in your house or back garden probably tops the list. 

Unlike the popular 2007 Disney film Ratatouille suggests, it is highly unlikely any of these creatures will be whipping you up a delicious meal – it’s more likely they’ll be giving you a fright.

Despite many councils making huge efforts to reduce the problem, many residents of Greater Manchester are still plagued by the pesky vermin in and around their homes.

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Rat problems hit some areas worse than others – which is why the Local Democracy Reporting Service has created the ‘Greater Manchester Rat League for 2022’.

After submitting Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to each borough council, data has revealed the worst offenders in the region for rat problems last year.

Authorities record the data in different ways so the statistics have been broken down by ward, postcode and area – with some clarifying if the reports came from inside or outside the house (external or internal callouts).

It is important to note that some areas are bigger and also have more densley populated communites, which may affect the figures. 

The data shows that there were more reports from inside the home than outside. Wigan borough had the most callouts, but claim that this was due to their three-visit approach tripled their figures.

Without this triple approach, the borough would be second only to Manchester.

Here is the rat callouts in 2022 league table for each of the 10 Greater Manchester borough:

  • Wigan – 3,605
  • Manchester – 2,407
  • Salford – 1,000
  • Stockport – 832
  • Rochdale – 771
  • Bury – 640
  • Bolton – 600
  • Oldham – 431
  • Trafford – 363
  • Tameside – 286

Wigan Council has claimed that their three visit approach to dealing with rat reports means that their figures are tripled compared to other councils. So because they have attended more call outs, does not mean they have had more rat incidents.

The belief is that this figure per incident would be around 1,201, which would be second to Manchester.

David Lyon, Assistant Director for Environment at Wigan Council, said: “Wigan Council provides a comprehensive 3 visit approach to all enquiries to ensure we eradicate the pest issue. The numbers provided in response to the recent FOI includes these 3 visits per call out, which has effectively tripled our figures.

“While rats are an unfortunate and inevitable result of built-up areas, the council works hard to help tackle them and to make the reporting of issues easy for residents as part of the Wigan Deal, with information available on our website to report or request pest control services.

“The Council also provides pest control for private homeowners, which is cheaper than private pest control services. As a result, we find the service is popular and so a higher number of enquiries to the council is to be expected.

“With different councils providing different levels of service regarding rat and pest control, this direct comparison is not necessarily indicative of a wider issue.”

Breakdown of data by ward:

  • Abram

Internal callouts: 113

External callouts: 207

  • Ashton

Internal callouts: 56

External callouts: 37

  • Aspull New Springs Whelley

Internal callouts: 77

External callouts: 44

  • Astley Mosley Common

Internal callouts: 50

External callouts: 47

  • Atherleigh

Internal callouts: 50

External callouts: 108

  • Atherton

Internal callouts: 28

External callouts: 156

  • Bryn

Internal callouts: 61

External callouts: 113

  • Douglas

Internal callouts: 126

External callouts: 92

  • Golborne and Lowton West

Internal callouts: 56

External callouts: 53

  • Hindley

Internal callouts: 77

External callouts: 82

  • Hindley Green

Internal callouts: 82

External callouts: 16

  • Ince

Internal callouts: 136

External callouts: 102

  • Leigh East

Internal callouts: 21

External callouts: 74

  • Leigh South

Internal callouts: 55

External callouts: 103

  • Leigh West

Internal callouts: 66

External callouts: 153

  • Lowton East

Internal callouts: 48

External callouts: 17

  • Orrell

Internal callouts: 40

External callouts: 33

  • Pemberton

Internal callouts: 110

External callouts: 111

  • Shevington with Lower Ground

Internal callouts: 39

External callouts: 60

  • Standish with Langtree

Internal callouts: 47

External callouts: 38

  • Tyldesley

Internal callouts: 69

External callouts: 92

  • Wigan Central

Internal callouts: 65

External callouts: 67

  • Wigan West

Internal callouts: 63

External callouts: 79

  • Winstanley

Internal callouts: 13

External callouts: 79

  • Worsley Mesnes

Internal callouts: 77 

External callouts: 75