Band together to beat gull menace (From Chard & Ilminster News)

Band together to beat gull menace

12:20pm Saturday 9th January 2010

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RESIDENTS in Chard could be encouraged to work together in a bid to rid their neighbourhoods of problem dive-bombing gulls.

South Somerset District Council received plenty of complaints during 2009 from people worried about being attacked by gulls with the birds nesting on the tops of houses.

But council bosses have been left scratching their heads over what to do about the birds because they feel that if they solve the problem in one area, the gulls will simply move to another.

The council’s principal environmental protection officer, Vicki Dawson, said in a report that a questionnaire sent out to 700 homes in the Forest Hill area of Yeovil showed that 82 people had been attacked by gulls in 2009. Twenty homes had gulls nesting on their roof and 33 chicks successfully hatched.

But she said: “Having undertaken extensive investigations into this issue, and having attended many meetings locally and regionally, it is concluded that there is very little that can be done on a district-wide basis to prevent problems with gulls occurring. The problem being that most action available will simply ‘push’ the problem around the district.

“But various options are available to householders and property owners to take action in relation to their own homes, and where small communities can work together, and in doing so the costs can be reduced.”

The council believes that if neighbourhoods working together against the gull problem in Yeovil is successful, residents in other towns – such as Chard – could be encouraged to follow suit.

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