Bird-Lover Fined for Excessive Feeding

A bird-lover who excessively fed the seagulls and pigeons in her garden has been fined.

Wiltshire Council issued a Community Protection Notice against 56 year-old Maureen Francis when neighbours complained about the noise and mess caused by her habit of feeding the birds in her Trowbridge garden.

The Notice limited Francis to putting only one small caged bird feeder in her garden, but she refused to comply. Failure to comply with a Community Protection Notice is an offence under section 48 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

Wiltshire Council laid charges against Francis, who was requisitioned to attend Salisbury Magistrates' Court but failed to do so. Magistrates convicted her of the offence in her absence, fining her £500 and ordering her to pay prosecution costs of £1,600.

Councillor Jerry Wickham, Wiltshire Council's cabinet member for public protection, said: "Our officers made numerous attempts to engage with Mrs Francis to try and resolve this problem.

"We were reluctant to take legal action but for the sake of the neighbours, prosecution was the only option."

There seems to be some criticism of the perceived heavy-handed way Wiltshire Council has dealt with Francis, but my sympathy lies entirely with her neighbours.

Excessive bird feeding attracts mice and rats, which in turn bring illness and disease. Francis might be unconcerned by that point, but her neighbours have the right to live in clean and healthy surroundings.

Had she complied with the perfectly reasonable compromise set out in the Notice, she would not now have a criminal record and be more than £2,000 out of pocket.