The Northern Echo : News, Sport, Business, Leisure from the North East and North Yorkshire

Pigeons culled as families pressure MP for solution

From the Northern Echo, first published Tuesday 22nd Jan 2002.

PIGEONS which are causing problems for people living in a North-East street are being culled by the local authority.

People living along Alfred Street in Redcar, Teesside, said the road, their cars and homes are constantly covered in the birds' mess, while parents prevent their children from playing in the street because of concerns over the threat to their health.

The problem stems from a particular house, which has become rundown. The pigeons are roosting in the loft every night after getting into the house through a hole in the roof.

Environmental health officers from Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council have been to the house twice and have successfully culled almost 100 birds through a trapping programme.

But now residents on the street have got together to petition Redcar MP Vera Baird to ask for a more permanent solution to the problem.

Neighbour Pat McGurk said: "It is all the dirt they cause and the council doesn't seem to be doing anything about getting rid of them permanently. It is not so bad at the moment, but during the heat of summer it was disgusting and in the breeding season it is absolutely horrific.

"It is the health and safety issue as well. A few of the mothers in the street are concerned for their children."

Stuart Winter, from the council's environmental health department, said a team planned to go back to the house one more time, later this week, to complete the trapping programme and to encourage the owner to make the necessary repairs to his property.

The owner was not at the property when a Northern Echo reporter called there last night.

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