A WORKING party has been formed to tackle Liskeard’s seagull problem.

And one of the areas it will address is whether seagull-proof rubbish bags should be made available for free.

That was the outcome of a town council committee meeting to which 21 members of the public went along.

The new working party of four town councillors, which the committee decided to form after hearing people’s views, will be asked to come up with shorter and longer term solutions.

Tony said: ‘For example, some measures would take up to four generations of gulls to take effect, while in the short-term we can focus on using social media to inform and educate.’

One measure discussed was seagull-proof refuse bags, into which people place their ordinary rubbish bags. These are designed to stop seagulls being attracted by binbags containing food waste, which they can attack.

The council is going to try to obtain more of the re-usable seagull-proof bags to have available for sale at £3.50. This was decided after it emerged that some people were not buying them because they thought they were only single use and, therefore, too expensive.

Cllr Jane Pascoe reported that using the bags had made a big difference in the Eastern Avenue area.

There was a discussion of the cost of anti-seagull measures at the meeting and some thought the bags should be provided free. The cost of this is to be investigated by the working party.

The new working party will report back in September. People can make comments to the council for the working party to consider