An uprising of gulls could be on the horizon following a decision to drop an Angus Council scheme to remove nests and eggs from local rooftops.
The long-running control has been used on residential properties across the district, but new protection for the birds has forced the authority to axe the measure.
With the breeding season just weeks’ away, councillors are braced for a barrage of complaints and fear an upsurge in attacks by protective parent gulls.
The move follows a Scottish Natural Heritage consultation which has led to the agency removing all gull species from general licence controls due to increasing concerns about their declining conservation status.
Councils can still make a one-off application to tackle nesting hotspots, but Angus environmental services chief Stewart Ball said the nest and egg removal scheme cannot now operate legally.
Policy and resources committee councillors have agreed it should be dropped from April 1.
Mr Ball said: “For an egg and nest removal service to be effective it has to be a long term strategy applied over a wide geographical area.
“This option is effectively being removed by the new licensing regime as an individual licence would be required for each property, and it is expected that SNH will not allow repeat treatments to be carried out.”
Arbroath SNP councillor Alex King said: “I’m very disappointed to see this and I note that consultation was conducted in England.
“I think it would have been better if it was conducted in the seaside towns of Arbroath and Montrose, and probably also the inland burghs where there are increasing problems too.”
He added: “If we can’t control the number of gulls nesting and raising their young, you’re not going to get rid of the problem of aggressive parents defending their chicks.
“There have been many incidents of people being attacked by gulls and I think this is a backward step.
“We’re never managed to eliminate the gulls, but we have at least been able to try to control them.”
The scheme costs Angus Council almost £20,000 in a full year. Officials said consideration will be given to using some of that money for public information about seagull control measures.
Dundee City Council pest control officers also remove nests and eggs during the breeding season from April to July. The authority declined to confirm if any changes to its scheme are being considered.
