‘Gulls’ noise affects our health’ Anger over lack of action

ACOUPLE say seagulls near their Cheltenham home are so noisy that they can’t sleep or sit out in their garden.

Emily Gowers said the problem for her and her partner had been serious enough for them to seek the help of the borough council in the last three years.

She said it had got so bad that the couple felt it was affecting their work as teachers.

She said: “It is what we have to endure every day from around 5.30am.”

She added: “For the past three years, we have been in contact with the council, who have promised to undertake gull treatment on the nests to reduce the number of seagulls.

“We’ve just been told by Anna Knight from the enforcement department, who promised that the issue would be resolved three years ago, that we’re now not a priority.

“As both of us are teachers in the

local area, we feel that the seagulls are affecting our work and mental health.”

She said the couple could not sleep because of the noise and she was particularly worried because she was due to have a baby shortly.

“We’re not sure how it’s all going to work out with the noise. We can’t even sit in our garden any more.

“I feel that this would put people off buying our house should we sell,” she said.

Mike Redman, the borough council’s director of environment, said: “There is no easy answer to the borough’s urban gull issue.

“Following a scrutiny review and recommendations from a member working group in November 2018, the council revised its egg oiling programme this year, focusing efforts within the town centre and problem residential areas, rather than the commercial property locations treated in previous years.

“Whilst we recognise that gulls can have a significant nuisance impact, they are a protected species and the council has to use its limited resources carefully, to tackle what is a discretionary issue for local authority intervention.

“We will be monitoring the impact of our changed approach, to see whether the overall impact is better or worse than in the past and we are looking at other longer term measures, such as public awareness raising and gullproof litter bins, to help tackle available food sources.

“Additional money has been made available for this work. We are sympathetic to the complainant who in this case lives next to a factory.

“The factory owners were advised, as were other commercial businesses, to contact a private pest control company to put their own measures in place, following the withdrawal of the free service provided by the council.

“In this case, the council was told they would do this, but we understand this may not actually have happened.”