Council’s refusal to act on gull issue continues
More reports of gull attacks emerge
Pleas for action against the gull menace continue to roll in but the council has still refused to tackle the issue. Residents are continuing to come forward in increasing numbers to report a growing number of dangerous swoops, foul mess and random attacks.
Scarborough Borough Council is still officially insisting that netting more buildings is the answer despite pleas for protection by the public.
Resident Ian Geldart, of Granville Road, said: “A lady I know, walking a friend’s dog up our street, was viciously attacked by a herring gull which severely scratched her scalp.
“The lady became so distressed she fainted.
“The gull was a parent at the time, protecting its young; in a sense, admirable as a parent, but far too distressing for us mere humans.”
He added: “For the council to apply further netting but not deal with nests and eggs will just encourage the gulls to rear their offspring further inland on chimney pots and in greater numbers as the breed increases.
“I’m all for gulls at the seaside but our modern ways (often far from ideal or an improvement) have allowed them to escalate to an unmanageable level.”
Members of the public have also spoken out about the foul mess which litters the town during its peak tourism season.
Another resident said: “On a recent visit to the NCP multi-storey car park above Wilkinson’s store, I had to go to the very top as the car park was full – and was met with a white/grey covering of seagull mess.
“It looked as if it had been snowing.”
Despite attacks and foul mess, the council has continued to stand by theory that more netting will solve the escalating issue.
A previous statement from Scarborough Borough Council says: “As we’ve said before, forcing the gulls back to their natural breeding grounds on the cliffs is no quick fix and involves working with a number of businesses and organisations to request that they install netting on their buildings and infrastructure to prevent nesting.
“We advised many local businesses prior to the nesting season this year about why netting is required and how to go about doing it and we will be repeating the exercise this autumn.
“The council is not able to provide private businesses with the public funds to purchase the netting and therefore we are appealing to businesses to assist us in helping to reduce the problem for the benefit of their own business and for the collective benefit of the town as a whole.”