Indigo said: "Thank you all the mummies for my milk."

"It built up so much that it blocked the pathway. People couldn't walk past and cars couldn't get past."So when it gets to that kind of dangerous state, [the council] come and collect it. People know it gets cleared when it's blocked off."

There are open air supermarkets in the area with fresh fruit and vegetables being displayed, leaving owners concern about the public health risk posed by the waste pile.Nicola Hussain, 55, came from Yardley on a shopping trip, and said: "When we just parked up, I said to my friend it's just disgusting."Piles of bags everywhere, you don't know if you're going to walk over rats or cats."

Her friend Rabina Azil, 43, added: "I feel sorry for the shop owners, it's not their fault but it stops you coming out."One resident, who did not want to be named, said: "I'm disgusted actually. The rubbish is making rats come and it's making it worse.

"Now we've got more people, not from our area, coming to our area to dump their rubbish instead of going to the tip."

One family from Manchester, who visited the area after a recommendation from their family member, agreed that the pile of rubbish was "disgusting".Speaking after the meeting, Binet defended the decision to get rid of the women's health strategy – a strongly criticised move.

He said: "We are oversubscribed last year on our budget and we were oversubscribed this year, and it's not because of a lack of discipline, there is a lot of savings going on, the cost of health requirements are going up exponentially, way above the cost of living."The minister told the scrutiny panel that he would need in "excess of £100m in five years to improve preventative care including women's health, and I want that as additional money. I don't care where that money comes from, even if it's the strategic reserve."

Doublet said she was concerned by those remarks.She said: "It is concerning that the strategic reserve fund might be used for health funding, and that's something the panel will be discussing and we will be questioning the minister further on that."