It’s becoming an all too familiar sight, litter strewn across the streets, torn bin bags and some very smug looking vandals.
Not the work of yobs, of course, as anyone in Hastings or St Leonards will tell you, but our more vocal citizens, those infamous gulls.
Love them or loathe them, they are as much a part of our landscape as the net huts or imposing hilltop ruins.
But they do cause us problems; whether it’s nesting in chimneys, dive-bombing pedestrians or destroying black bags, the time has come for the council to act.
This year we have noticed there are more baby gulls than in previous months and though the problems get better over the winter months, we are looking at ways of making sure we don’t have a repeat of the mess next year.
Our waste contractors, Veolia Environmental, have found themselves stretched to the limit carrying out normal collection rounds and cleaning up after the gulls. Collection times run the risk of slipping behind as staff face an ever increasing pile of mouldy old teabags, pizza boxes and anything else the gulls fancy a nibble on.
This is why we are launching our Don’t Feed the Birds campaign (see poster below). It doesn’t seem to matter how late bin bags go out on collection days, the gulls always get there first, so we are asking all residents to keep bags in bins. Our rubbish collectors are more than happy to come and get bags from dustbins or storage areas.
Over time we hope to provide as many people as possible with wheelie bins, but until that happens, please help us by keeping rubbish out of reach.
Veolia Environmental took over the contract for waste collection, street cleansing and recycling in July after the Council considered six tenders.
We are looking forward to a brighter and cleaner future and hope that you will help us to keep our town looking its best.
For more information on the Don’t Feed the Birds campaign, take a look at Advice on seagulls
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This page last updated: 12/09/2006