This morning I opened my front door to see a very large seagull using its beak to rip open a bag of my garbage and scatter it all over the pavement. Tomorrow a man is coming to remove a dead bird from blocking up our gutter which has resulted in rainwater flooding our kitchen and staining the ceiling brown.
It seems I am not the only one in Bath to believe that the large bird population of the city is getting out of control. A front-page feature in the local Chronicle called it a “Gull menace” and local groups are taking action against the rampant birds by cladding their buildings with netting and spikes, but what are Bath and North East Somerset Council doing about it? Apparently, not an awful lot. They spend just £10,000 a year on a softly-softly strategy of egg oiling and egg replacement, but instead the seagull population is growing year on year. What is needed is a direct cull of the birds plus action on garbage removal. The council is indicating a new waste food collecting service next year, but how onerous will this be on local residents?
Good news to hear that Bath council taxpayers have received £7 million in compensation for the outrageous overspend on the new Thermae Spa complex, but the bad news is that £2.4 million was spent on legal fees to get it! Still, congratulations are due to the current administration, which is finding cuts of £3.6 million to the current budget.
Tim Newark, Bath