Newham has been ranked as one of the worst places in the UK for cockroach, bedbug and mice problems.

A national survey that collated figures from every UK authority, revealed the borough was the third worst place in the UK for the number of calls made to the council about bedbugs and is the sixth worse place in the UK for cockroaches.

The figures come from a recent survey by the British Pest Control Association (BPCA), who contacted all 406 of the UK’s local authorities regarding pest control in their areas.

According to their data, Newham, which has a population of 307,984 ranked 83rd out of 406 for the total number of pest call outs made per head of population.

The latest figures for 2012 show that 4,211 calls were made about pest control, up from 3,855 in 2011, which is 14 calls per 1000 people.

Last year 687 calls were made about bedbugs and 807 about cockroaches.

756 calls were made about rats, putting the borough in 193rd place with 2.45 calls made per 1000 people, while 1,688 calls were made about mice.

There were 40 calls about ants in 2012, putting the borough in 114th place in the UK.

The figures are a result of Freedom of Information requests made to local councils by the BPCA about the numbers of call-outs council pest controllers attended in 2012.

BPCA Chief Executive, Simon Forrester, said: “There are many localised reasons why an area could have a high prevalence of a certain pest, but we’re concerned that at a national level pest control services are being cut.

“Local authorities are under immense strain to come up with savings. The BPCA wants to make sure this doesn’t have an impact on public health.

“If an infestation isn’t dealt with quickly and properly, it will spread. Dealing with it then is much more expensive and it carries a greater risk to public health.”