‘A very emotive issue’ – Seagulls debate divides Scarborough councillors

Scarborough councillors have once again debated the “very emotive” issue of seagulls and whether action should be taken to reduce the bird population across the borough.

The long-running issue came to the fore at a full meeting of Scarborough Council on Monday, November 7 when Cllr John Nock asked what the authority was doing with regard to “increasing gull numbers”.

He said: “In 2018-19, just under 800 herring gull eggs were removed from gulls’ nests under a previous initiative to reduce the population on an exponential basis.”

He added: “If you had continued with the initiative that was started, gull numbers would be under much more control than they are now, would they not?”

Cllr Michelle Donohue-Moncrieff, the cabinet member for environment and sustainability, said the issue of egg removal had been discussed by a council scrutiny committee and had been deemed “not as successful” as thought.

“I do get the concerns about gulls and I know a lot of people don’t like them.

"But the truth is, there is no miracle solution to the gull population. The council can do certain things and take certain measures, and the gulls will be here for many years”, said the cabinet member.

“Look, the gulls have outlasted this council, they’ll outlast the new council, and they’ll probably be here until the end of time, and there will be someone in 100 years complaining about gulls on the coast.”

Currently, Scarborough Council has an ongoing scheme to support residents in Filey, Scarborough, and Whitby to gull proof their properties, with the authority offering a 50 per cent contribution to costs of up to £2,000.

Cllr Donohue-Moncrieff also noted that as a protected species, the authority was “limited as to what it can do”, adding that the council sought to “find a balance between lobby groups, all of which disagree on every action that we have tried to take.”

The cabinet member added: “We’ve appeared in the national press when we’ve been attacked for being anti-seagull, we’ve had people writing to ask why we have the signs about gull attacks, apparently that’s negative. So we’ve tried to find a happy medium.”

However, Cllr Nock said: “I do note that the council is limited in what it can do, but you’ve actually done nothing, have you?”

The cabinet member for the environment responded, stating: “Can I suggest that he has a chat with the chair of scrutiny [committee], because the allegation that the council or that scrutiny has done nothing, is actually really unfair and disparaging to their workload.”

Though other councillors indicated that they wanted to share their thoughts on the matter, the mayor, Cllr Eric Broadbent, concluded the debate.

He said: “As I have stated, the gulls are a very emotive issue. I’ve been in this chamber many years and we have had the debate over and over again.”