Council has most mice call-outs in all of Wales

NEW figures have found Neath Port Talbot Council has more callouts to deal with mice than any other local authority in Wales.

The council was called out 832 times in the 2015-16 financial year – amounting to six call-outs for every 1,000 people in the area.

This added up to more call-outs per head than the third- and second-placed councils – Vale of Glamorgan and Cardiff respectively – combined.

The data comes from the fifth study carried out by the British Pest Control Association (BPCA) analysing nationwide demand for pest control.

The not-for-profit trade body which represents pest control firms sent Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to all 390 district, borough and unitary authorities in the UK and all but 26 replied.

Within Wales 21 of 22 authorities responded to the FOI request, with only Conwy Council not responding. Of the remaining 21, Carmarthen, Newport, Powys, Denbighshire and Monmouthshire didn’t offer a pest control service.

Councils have no duty in law to provide pest control services and the figures do not include calls to private firms.

Neath Port Talbot Council also had more call-outs than any other council, with 119 more than Cardiff. The council was also highest in the UK for general pest callouts per head of population. They pipped Middlesbrough with just under 30 call-outs per 1,000.

Neath Port Talbot councillor Ted Latham, cabinet member for streetscene and engineering, said: “These figures do not give a complete picture of the levels of public and private service provision and should be treated with extreme caution.”