New £119,000 Strategy Proposed To Tackle Gull Issues In Scarborough, Whitby and Filey

North Yorkshire Council has proposed a new £119,500 urban gull strategy for Scarborough, Whitby, and Filey to balance public health with wildlife conservation through education, waste management, and targeted cleaning.

North Yorkshire Council has proposed a new £119,500 urban gull strategy to manage populations of Herring Gulls and Kittiwakes in the coastal towns of Scarborough, Whitby, and Filey.

The strategy aims to balance the legal and ecological responsibilities of protecting wild birds with the need to maintain clean, safe, and welcoming urban spaces. According to a report by the Corporate Director of Environment, the council intends to move away from previously used methods of random proofing and lethal control, which have proven ineffective and are contrary to the Environment Act 2021.

The new approach focuses on five core pillars: education and communication, waste management, cleaning services, targeted proofing, and ongoing monitoring.

North Yorkshire Council environmental protection officer Tim Croot said:

"Scarborough particularly, but equally the other areas are really quite a good location for birds.

Kittiwakes, for example, the population in Scarborough is actually quite stable, which is not what it's like nationally. The Kittiwakes are in decline nationally so we should really celebrate the fact that we have got quite a stable population.

So education is the first real pillar and that's both looking at where people effectively are feeding gulls and why they shouldn't be feeding the herring gulls, trying to encourage people to not do that, but also in terms of the waste sources that people feed the gulls on. Can we take some actions to reduce that by using gull proof sacks and encouraging the likes of holiday lets to manage their waste."

The strategy follows a targeted consultation with 102 local stakeholders, which revealed strong support for education, improved signage, and waste control.

A significant portion of the proposed £119,500 budget will be directed towards waste management to reduce the food sources that attract gulls to urban areas. This includes £30,000 for the distribution of gull-proof sacks to domestic and commercial premises, and £19,500 for the provision of new and retrofitted litter bins in high-risk hotspots.

Mr Croot said:

"Most people would accept if there was waste sources around, particularly the herring gulls are going to go for the waste. If there's bags of rubbish on the floor, I see it myself when I'm going up Eastborough in the morning, you'll see the ripped bags and the gulls are flying around, flapping around eating the waste.

So, the obvious solution there is can we try and control that as much as possible? Can we take some actions to reduce that by using gold proof sacks and encouraging the likes of holiday lets to manage their waste."

In addition to waste management, the council plans to spend £50,000 on a seasonal guano jetting programme. This cleaning service will target identified hotspots across the coastal towns between May and September to mitigate public health and safety risks.

Mr Croot said:

"The council has for a number of years now had a guano jetting program, which is a way of ensuring that where there are hotspots such as down by the Spa Bridge and near the Poundland and those sort of areas, that jetting is undertaken partly visually, but also for health and safety reason that we don't want people falling over, so we are certainly looking at continuing that service as part of the strategy."

The remaining budget includes £15,000 for an education and communications campaign, alongside £5,000 to audit and replace existing gull signage. The council noted that historic signage, which focused on negative aspects such as 'attacks', will be replaced with clearer, more balanced messaging asking the public not to feed the birds.

The strategy highlights the ecological differences between the species. While Herring Gulls are opportunistic feeders known to scavenge human waste, Kittiwakes feed exclusively at sea and do not come into close contact with people for food. Both species are currently on the UK's Red List of Conservation Concern due to significant national population declines.

The urban gull strategy will be reviewed by an overview and scrutiny committee before being presented to the Executive for a final decision in August.