Cuts to an English council's pest control services are being blamed for a town’s rodent¹ problem, which includes the discovery of a supersize rat said to be 22in (56cm) from nose to tail.

The giant rat, about the length of the carry-on luggage people might be wheeling on to a flight — or, if not on holiday, a desktop² monitor — was found inside a person’s home in Normanby a borough³ near Middlesbrough.

“I had to do a double take when I saw a picture of it,” said Stephen Martin, a Conservative councillor on Redcar and Cleveland council.

“You can tell by the size of the bag that it’s not a normal size. It’s the size of a cat.”

Mr Martin, whose Eston ward⁴ is close to where the rat was removed by a pest controller, said it was not a one-off.

“Rats are being spotted⁵ more and more around our area. It has been getting worse for a few years now.”

As with many cash-strapped local authorities, Redcar and Cleveland does not offer a pest control service to private residents. Its website says officers can offer free advice over the phone, “however, the responsibility for taking action to solve a pest problem belongs to the occupant of the property”.

But Mr Martin said many people did not have the money to pay private pest control companies. He said the rat problem often began on council or housing association land “but they’re expecting private residents to sort it out”.