Agenda item

To consider a report by the Head of Planning and Public Protection (copy enclosed) which details the progress made in delivering the Seagull Management Action Plan and seeks the Committee’s views on proposed future actions to be taken

10.35am – 11.05am

The Lead Member for Housing, Regulation and the Environment introduced the Head of Planning and Public Protection’s report and associated appendices (previously circulated) the purpose of which was to update members on the progress made to date in implementing the Seagull Management Action Plan and proposed future actions to mitigate the nuisance caused by seagulls in the county.

Members were advised by the Head of Planning and Public Protection that the Action Plan, Appendix 3 to the report, was a Council-wide plan with actions allocated to a number of services to take forward and implement.  The priority at present was delivering the public awareness campaign, outlined in Appendix 4, and working with food businesses to reduce the availability of food waste which enticed seagulls.  Currently the focus was on educating the public and persuading residents, visitors and businesses to work with the Council in a bid to reduce the nuisance and destruction caused by seagulls.

The Council’s Team Leader:  Communications and Campaign Management outlined the actions and initiatives underway as part of the public awareness campaign, which had been approved in February 2018.    These included:

·         social media campaign which would include awareness raising videos;

·         contacting city, town and community councils to seek their support for the work and to encourage them to support the Council’s work by sharing information with residents and ensuring that streets and public areas were kept clean and tidy;

·         encouraging businesses, residents and visitors to dispose of any food waste responsibly and in a secure manner;

·         contacting schools with a view to educating children about the nuisance caused by seagulls and other animals and of the need to safely dispose of food waste and other rubbish.  It was envisaged that this approach would be useful for communicating the same messages to parents etc. as they were likely to listen to their children’s views on matters;

·         through the Education Service’s Enrichment Programme to run a poster designing competition with the winning entry being used for the Council’s awareness campaign

Councillor Anton Sampson shared with the Committee photographs of a poster used by Great Yarmouth Borough Council in a bid encourage people to dispose of food waste etc. responsibly, whilst Councillor Brian Blakeley shared a number of complaints and comments he had received from residents.

Responding to members’ questions the Lead Member, Corporate Director:  Economic and Community Ambition, Head of Service, and Team Leader:  Communications and Campaign Management confirmed that:

·         food waste was the main cause of concern as it attracted the seagulls. If access to food waste could be reduced it was anticipated that the problems caused by the seagulls would diminish;

·         duty of care inspections on businesses to ensure that they had commercial waste disposal contracts and were using pest-proof containers for food waste were currently underway.  Similar checks were being undertaken on food outlets during routine food hygiene inspections.  Consideration was currently being given to whether to include securing food waste as one of the compliance areas for food hygiene inspections;

·         street cleaning work was being undertaken on a regular basis in coastal towns with a view to reducing the amount of litter and keeping the streets and street furniture clean and tidy;

·         whilst falconry had been used successfully as a deterrent in recent years to scare away the seagulls, its effects were short-term and once the birds of prey were withdrawn the seagulls returned.  Using falconry was also quite expensive and therefore not sustainable in the long-term;

·         the Council intended to lobby the WG, Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) and National Resources Wales (NRW) with a view to having a national or regional cross-organisational campaign on seagull management and risk mitigation, and to better understand the gulls behaviour pattern with a view to predicting their evolving feeding patterns;

·         discussions were underway with the Council’s Legal Department on the viability of introducing bylaws or Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) in relation to preventing the feeding of gulls.  However, before such measures could be considered the Service would need to provide evidence in relation to the actual number of complaints received by the Council pertaining to people feeding gulls.  At present the number of actual complaints received by the Council was extremely low, although officers were well aware of the anecdotal complaints relating to the feeding of gulls and the problems it caused.  The viability of introducing a bylaw or a PSPOs would be reviewed again in 12 months’ time.  In the meantime residents and visitors would need to be made aware of the importance of reporting any ‘gull-related’ incidents to the Council’s Customer Services Centre;

·         the Council did have powers under the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to serve Community Protection Notices on individuals who were found to be excessively feeding birds.  However, this power was rarely used.  The Council’s initial approach would be to write to the individual concerned to advise them that complaints had been received about their behaviour and its impact on others.  It was felt that utilising a non-adversarial, persuasive approach was more effective in the majority of cases; 

·         the use of bin bags in certain areas further compounded the problems caused by seagulls as they enticed them and could be ripped open easily by them.  Unfortunately there were properties and areas in the county which could only be issued with bags rather than wheelie bins and secure food caddies due to access problems for the waste collection service.  The Head of Planning and Public Protection undertook to discuss with the Head of Highways and Environmental Services whether other more secure ‘waste disposal’ options were now available that could be issued to these properties and whether clips could be fitted on to current wheelie bins to secure their contents in adverse weather conditions or to stop seagulls and other vermin opening them;

·         that they were not aware of any lobbying of the UK Government with a view to lifting the legal protection given to ‘seagulls’;

·         the use of cartoon/picture posters for the purpose of raising public awareness was acknowledged as an effective method for engaging with people and educating them to consider changing their habits;

·         they were aware of the problem caused by seagulls at Ysgol y Castell, Rhuddlan and the cost of introducing measures to address the problem.  As far as they were aware this was an isolated incident, but they offered to enquire with the Council’s Buildings Maintenance Service on who would be liable to pay for risk reduction work on school buildings;

·         hotels, caravan and  holiday parks would be included in the awareness raising work undertaken by the Communications and Marketing Team; and

·         the work to raise public awareness was key if the Council was to be successful in reducing the nuisance caused by seagulls in the county.  Any ambitions the Authority had in relation to increasing tourist footfall through seeing open air restaurants etc. flourish would be dependent on a large reduction in the number of seagulls in the county; 

It was also suggested during the discussion that it may be worthwhile to contact Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) to enquire if they held statistics on the number of individuals who had attended the Emergency Departments or Minor Injuries Units at local hospitals with injuries or complaints caused by seagulls.  At the conclusion of the discussion the Committee:

Resolved: - subject to the above observations -

(i)           to instruct the Lead Member and officers to contact the Welsh Government, Welsh Local Government Association and National Resources Wales to seek their commitment to work with the Council for the purpose of effectively managing and mitigating the risks and nuisance caused by seagulls;

(ii)          that the public awareness campaign include the production of posters and stickers etc. to be placed in food outlets and on waste containers/bins asking people to safely and securely dispose of their food waste;

(iii)         if appropriate, that officers utilise the powers to serve Community Protection Notices in accordance with the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, to individuals who excessively feed birds and have a detrimental impact on other residents; and

(iv)        that a report be presented to the Committee in twelve months’ time on the progress made in developing and delivering the Seagull Management Action Plan and the associated Public Awareness Campaign