Help stop Bridgwater's seagull menace

5:00pm Tuesday 19th June 2012 in News

PEOPLE in Bridgwater are being reminded to leave their rubbish out on the morning of collection to stop the scourge of seagulls.

The Mercury has received complaints from readers about seagulls fouling in the town centre and spreading rubbish by tearing up bin bags.

One reader said the problem was particularly bad in St John Street last Thursday.

Sedgemoor District Council said around 100 bin bags had been left out after their scheduled pick-up in the St John Street, Polden Street and Edward Street areas, and its Clean Surroundings team had to clean up the resulting mess.

The council says problems are also caused by people leaving their rubbish out the night before its scheduled pick-up.

A spokesman said: “Our advice is not to put your rubbish out until the day it's collected. If you leave it for longer, this is the kind of thing that happens.”

Alan Hurford, clerk to Bridgwater Town Council, also discouraged people from feeding seagulls by the River Parrett.

He said: “We fully accept it's a problem. We contribute towards cleaning in the town centre and have contributed to additional power washes in the past.

“We support any action taken by the district council to solve this problem.”

Comments(6)

MINIME2 says...
8:14pm Tue 19 Jun 12

We have a neighbour who syands in her garden throwing whole sliced loaves of bread about and we get seagulls screeching and diving trying to get at the bread. These people should be stopped. She was reported and we were told she was not commiting an offence. A diferent tale when one of the seagulls attacked a man in his garden he had to have stitches in a gash about 6" long.

Report this post »

BaldyLocks says...
9:53am Wed 20 Jun 12

Perhaps if the residents of Bridgwater were to look up more often this would be enough to scare the gulls away.

Report this post »

RustyKnight says...
7:48pm Wed 20 Jun 12

One advantage of going to the coast is getting away from the seagulls, there are definitely more in Bridgwater than anywhere else - can't think what the attraction is though!

Report this post »

mobyman says...
6:19am Thu 21 Jun 12

they are a total pest i love getting the jet washer out and aiming at the pesky birds.it would be helpful also that the bin men do there job to not collecting my waste half the time not as if they cant miss it.i left some cardboard for recycling last week only to find they didnt take it it was then blown down the street by teatime.it was only 5 small crisp size boxes and they left as sticker on saying it was to much ?

Report this post »

Fred 55 says...
3:43pm Thu 21 Jun 12

A spokesman said: “Our advice is not to put your rubbish out until the day it's collected.
My bin man is there before 7 am so have to put it out night before

Report this post »

What is Happening says...
11:43am Sat 23 Jun 12

why are we all talking about leaving rubbish out. If the rubbish was put out as and when required, the gulls would find another source. Only way to reduce the issue, is to oil the eggs - stop them from hatching. Therefore reducing the gull population. I am so fed up, with having to wash their c**p of my car.

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree