Pigeon cull due in Biggleswade to deal with mess on streets

Biggleswade Town Council is proposing a five-week cull of pigeons in its town centre shopping area

Pigeons are due to be culled in a town after a council agreed on a plan to tackle bird mess in the town centre.

A pilot scheme for the live capture of dozens of birds using bait boxes is being proposed over a five-week period starting next month in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire.

The pigeons will then be shot, the town council's town centre management committee heard last week.

The council heard there was "urgency" as the breeding season was soon.

Mark Knight said Biggleswade town centre was becoming "a real mess" due to pigeons

The council's head of governance and strategic partnerships, Karim Hosseini, said councillors had visited Biggleswade's Market Square with a "pest control expert" to assess the issue, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

A number of different premises in the area were visited and one suitable location for the deployment of the bait boxes was identified.

Mark Knight, the committee's chairman, said: "The streets and shop awnings are becoming a real mess, and the bird droppings are a health hazard generally.

"My understanding is the proposal is to capture them in a humane way and then shoot them.

"There are too many to count unless you get them in a picture - I counted more than 50 pigeons, and I think there are at least two flocks.

"So there's been considerable growth in the size of the flocks during the year we've been reviewing this."

He added there was "some urgency"... as "we're approaching peak breeding season".

The bait boxes are expected to be installed next month.

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