Call for resort to be included in scheme to tackle nuisance gulls
A COUNCILLOR in North Yorkshire has called for Filey to be included in plans to disperse herring gulls from coastal communities.
Coun Sam Cross claimed it was “typical” that only Scarborough and Whitby would benefit from a £30,000 investment to tackle the growing number of attacks on humans from the birds. Among the measures will be the introduction of raptors to scare the birds away from nesting in the town centre.
The one-year trial will begin shortly, but Coun Cross said: “It is not just Scarborough that has a problem – Filey has a problem with gulls too.”
Cabinet member Coun Bill Chatt said he had asked the contractor to look at other areas in the borough, including Filey, but said the council had limited time to put the plan together and owing to the “limited spend” could not include the town. Any future use of the raptors in Filey will not be until after the Scarborough and Whitby trial has concluded this year.
The blight of the nuisance gulls has been well documented in recent months, with the borough council even starting a record of the number of “muggings” of residents and tourists.
The number of gulls, which have become bold after years of urban living, has risen significantly and become an increasing problem – particularly in the Scarborough bay and Whitby harbour areas.
Since March 2016, there have been 36 reports of “gull muggings” made to the authority.
The action plan, drawn up after months of research and the establishment of a special task force, sets out several measures to tackle the problem.
And in the lead-up to this year’s main tourism season, the authority proposes to start rolling out more prominent signage for bins, railings and street lamps – even exploring options to print messages on the insides of chip boxes to warn tourists not to feed the gulls. The process would involve removing herring gull eggs and nests from buildings and bringing in birds of prey to scare the gulls away.