Scarborough, Whitby and Filey residents to be given money to 'seagull-proof' their homes

Residents of 'gull-hit' areas of the Yorkshire coast will now be able to apply for grants to protect their homes from bird mess.
Scarborough has ongoing issues with seagull messScarborough has ongoing issues with seagull mess
Scarborough has ongoing issues with seagull mess

The impact of seagull droppings on the streets of Scarborough, Whitby and Filey has now become so acute that a local company has even been cleaning the pavements for free, and residents launched a petition asking Scarborough Council to officially contract and pay them for their services.

Scarborough Council has now unveiled its latest measures to tackle the seagull menace.

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They will contribute up to 50 per cent of a maximum of £2,000 towards 'seagull-proofing' work on private homes and businesses in defined areas of the three towns deemed most affected by the issues.

Businesses will also be encouraged to invest in gull-proof netting, and a powerful, high-pressure street cleaning machine has been purchased.

Every year in spring and early summer, kittiwakes and herring gulls nest on the rooftops and window ledges of many town centre and seafront buildings in the borough of Scarborough.

Droppings from the gulls leave an unpleasant trail down the side of buildings and on surrounding pavements. On hot days it also produces a strong ammonia smell.

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To help prevent gulls nesting, the borough council has opened a grant funding scheme to assist private building owners and tenants with the cost of purchasing and installing gull-proofing material.

The scheme has been launched to coincide with the end of the gull breeding season.

A Scarborough Council spokesman said: “We will contribute 50 per cent, up to a maximum of £2,000, towards the costs of gull proofing any private buildings in defined areas of Filey, Scarborough and Whitby.

“The work must be carried out by our approved contractor, NBC Environment. This is to ensure the work is consistent and of the required high standard to ensure gulls do not become trapped in the proofing material.”

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Maps of the eligible areas and an application form for match funding are available to download at scarborough.gov.uk/seagulls or by emailing [email protected]

Anyone without internet access should call 01723 232322.

Coun Michelle Donohue Moncrieff, cabinet member for environment and sustainability, said: “Gulls are part of life in our borough and love them or loathe them, we’ve got to try to find better ways of managing how we live with them.

“We accept that we need to do more to keep the pavements cleaner and in return, we need those responsible for private buildings in the borough’s worst affected areas to be part of the collective effort to tackle the problem by installing material to prevent nesting.

“Our match funding scheme is designed to help people do just that in a more affordable way.

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“I encourage people to submit their applications as soon as possible so that we can assess them in time for arranging installation in the autumn and winter months.”

Coun Tony Randerson added: “I have always been passionate about looking at solutions that would allow us to improve how we clean gull guano from the borough’s worst affected areas.

“I am delighted that we have taken delivery of a new high-pressure hot water cleaning machine and our dedicated officers will waste no time in putting it to work to make our pavements cleaner and more pleasant places to be.

“Looking ahead to next year, it is true that gulls will ‘go to the toilet’ more frequently than any machine or team of people can be deployed to an area.

“However, we are committed to keeping on top of the problem and will deploy the machine as often as we can throughout the nesting season as well as all year round for enhanced cleaning.”

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