Today’s Gull Seminar is the latest in a series of events run by BANES which seem to be more aimed at publicity than problem solving.
BANES council has had large amounts of information about urban gulls and the problems of and options for controlling them for some time. TARA recently ran a conference to bring together experts and major commercial landlords to discuss the problem. We have attended at least three other information gathering events involving BANES staff.
None of this analysis has suggested that what is really needed to address the problem is a very expensive brainstorming event at the Guildhall.
What was needed was leadership. BANES should have taken the information and expertise it had and used it to implement a well thought through plan plan to address the issue.
The money spent at the Guildhall today could have gone some way to replacing the Pest Control Officer posts that BANES has cut or used to continue the subsidies that BANES used to provide to support residents in implementing anti-gull measures but has now withdrawn.
Yet again we seem to be seeming a preference for form over substance.