As residents living close to the hospital who have been badly affected by the growing breeding gull colony, we gathered sig-natures to a petition requesting that Dorset County Hospital address the noise and nuisance caused by gulls. We were invited to attend a meeting on September 5 by county councillor Trevor Jones to present our view to Patrick Rimmer, the hospital estates manager, and also Graham Duggan, community protection manager for West Dorset District Council.

We were pleased to find that the hospital has acknowledged that there is a gull problem, and that the hospital is exploring more effective and cost effective ways forward to control the gulls.

Everyone has agreed that a multi faceted approach is needed, as no one method will remove or deter the gulls.

Mr Rimmer and Mr Duggan agreed that the hospital and council will work together on all fronts to try and tackle the problem.

We will look forward to hearing more about the hospital’s plans, and a second meeting is planned for March 2015 to hear what both the hospital and council have in place ahead of the next gull breeding season. We are also pleased to hear that the council will explore supply-ing gull proof rubbish bags to residents who can’t use wheelie bins. We suggested that the council hire a cherry picker and charge residents a relatively low fee to remove nests ahead of breeding season. Everyone can help in this by not feeding the gulls, both in the town and at the hospital, not leaving rubbish lying around, and making sure that wheelie bins are firmly closed so the gulls can’t get at any food waste.

Heather Robinson,

Lorna Low,

Zofia Dymitr and

Alan Rayner

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