Messy students who caused a “year of filth” on a Canterbury street are to be taught how to manage their rubbish in an effort to clamp down on continual problems.

The city council says the level of waste strewn across High Street St Gregory’s over the last academic year is “not acceptable”.

Surrounding residents were forced to dodge rotten food, discarded sanitary products and even bags of vomit littering the narrow street week after week.

The road is used as a cut-through by parents taking children to and from St John’s Primary School, meaning youngsters regularly have to manoeuvre through rubbish.

With the students now gone, the road is back to a clean state, but neighbour Pat Gorman knows the waste issue will simply return in September.

“I’ve got dozens of pictures from across the year, it happens all the time the students are here,” the Northgate resident said.

“After a year of filth and antisocial behaviour, they’ve now left as they began – leaving huge piles of rubbish for others to deal with. It’s disgusting and the council hasn’t lifted a finger despite numerous calls throughout the year.

“I park at the other end of the street and walk through there every day. I feel for the parents with children who use the road to get to the school.

“The infants often have had to pick their way through bags of refuse left out many days before collection day, and split open by animals.

“This means mothers and children having to avoid uneaten food, used sanitary products, dozens of empty bottles, and on one occasion, several bags of vomit.

“It happens every year, it was several times worse this year than before, but the problem just keeps coming back.”

The city council says Mr Gorman’s calls for action have not fallen on deaf ears and pledges to educate first-year students on how to manage their waste.

"After a year of filth and anti-social behaviour, they’ve now left as they began..."

Spokesman Rob Davies said: “It’s obviously not acceptable for the street to look like this.

“We will ensure the people who live there come the new term are fully aware of the collection arrangements and monitor it closely to prevent a repeat of the situation.

“We intend to begin educating students on what is expected of them while they are in the first year of their studies. Many students start off living in halls, so if we engage with them early, then this is behaviour they can continue when moving into accommodation in the community.

“We are also looking at options for communal recycling facilities which we hope will lead to more recycling taking place, and engaging early with student landlords to ensure they have the right bins, stickers and leaflets for next year’s tenants.”

But Northgate ward councillor Alan Baldock (Lab) is unsure educating the students will put the rubbish issues to bed.

He instead believes there needs to be a new way of thinking behind waste collections.

He said: “It’s the same old, same old problem. The council needs to face up to the fact the city is home to thousands of students and the issues will return.

“The problems are recurring because they’ve never been fully addressed. They can educate them but nothing changes.

“The waste system is unsuitable for HMOs (Houses in Multiple Occupation).

"There needs to be a change which deals with the issues robustly as the litter will just be the same next year.”

High Street St Gregory’s is no stranger to issues with students. Last autumn, police were called following reports of a house party with more than 100 revellers, fights and blaring music.