Council trying to work out best way to stop residents getting ratty
BRIDGEND council has decided to keep providing a free pest control service following increased reports of rats in people’s homes during the pandemic.
The council is one of a few local authorities in Wales that provides a free domestic pest control service and currently pays private company Rentokil £63,000 per year to deal with rats, mice, bedbugs and cockroaches.
A report by council officers stated there was a notable increase in pest control requests from March 2020, while demand has increased by 47% since 2016.
Councillor Nicole Burnett, cabinet member for social services and early help, said rats are currently causing “distress to many” residents in Bridgend county borough.
She said private companies are not “incentivised enough to tackle and solve the problems” of pests in people’s homes.
The council’s cabinet agreed to maintain a free domestic pest control service during a meeting held on May 18. The meeting was held because the contract with Rentokil is due to expire in October and the council needs to decide on how the service will be delivered in future.
The options considered by councillors were:
■ Discontinue the service from October, when the current contract ends, leaving residents to make their own arrangements with private specialists.
■ Re-tender the contract and introduce charges for all pests with a 50% concession fee for residents receiving benefits.
■ Re-tender the contract as outlined in option 2 but continue to provide a free service that deals with rats in homes.
■ Re-tender the contract and provide a free service (as currently).
■ Bring the service in-house with either a) charges for just wasps and fleas or b) charges for all pests; this could cost the council £191,250 per year.
Councillors decided to go out to tender to see if an alternative company can provide better pest control service.
Bridgend council deputy leader Hywel Williams said it would not be appropriate to charge residents for pest control and “not providing a service is just not an option”.
He said people would be less likely to report issues with pests in their homes if they had to pay for them to be removed themselves. He said the council should aim to provide “the best value for money service” to residents.
Cllr Burnett said the council should devise a “long-term solution” to the issue “not a temporary fix”. He said: “The actual problems we have in the community aren’t being tackled. We need to be looking at the breeding habits of the rats where there are food sources.
“We can’t eradicate rats but they are are not appropriate in an urban environment.”
There are 22 councils in Wales and most do not provide a free pest control service; 11 charge residents for the treatment of all pests, and three charge for all pests except for rats.
Demand for pest control services has also increased nationally.
Rentokil revealed the number of UK pest control inquiries rose by 22% between April and June 2020 compared with the same period in 2019.