CALLS are being made for STICKERS to be plastered on bins around Worcester urging people not to feed seagulls.

The idea - which has been nicked from a council in Somerset - is the latest tactic being suggested to deal with the scavenger-like birds.

Our Worcester News mock-up shows how the adverts could look on bins if the idea is taken up by the Labour leadership.

Worcester News:

The idea has come from Worcester City Council's scrutiny committee during a long debate about the seagull population, where politicians said "something new has to be done".

Councillor Stephen Hodgson said: "People in the city need to be educated and at places like the city centre and KFC at Blackpole there should be stickers saying 'please don't leave food out'.

"Along the riverside people obviously want to feed the birds they want to feed, but gulls want to get in on that because they are basically scavengers.

"I don't think we should demonise them, but we do need to understand their behaviour better."

Worcester News:

During the debate others backed the stickers idea, which is said to have worked well in Bath and North East Somerset.

Councillor Chris Cawthorne said: "I like the idea of stickers on bins - anything to get the message across, basically."

David Sutton, a city council director responsible for the environment, said: "The night-time economy is difficult - when people have been out for the night and have got food, putting stuff in bins may not be at the forefront of their mind."

Marc Cox, from Worcestershire Regulatory Services, told councillors the current £5,500 fund the city council provides for tackling seagulls has not changed in a decade.

He said a trial to paint roofs red had been shown to work, with seagulls reluctant to land on them, but admitted it had not been rolled out widely due to problems with accessing some rooftops.

Worcester News:

Several councillors voiced concern about the gulls being pushed out into residential areas, due to the efforts to tackle the city centre population.

Councillor Lucy Hodgson said: "My concern is the displacement that is going on.

"We live in Warndon Parish North and I represent Warndon Parish South, and in the early evening you will quite often see a lot of birds."

Councillor Andy Roberts added: "When I'm sitting in my garden in Warndon villages in the summer, with a 'G and T', you can see the seagulls commuting over to the landfill site."

Worcester News:

We revealed last week how Councillor Alan Amos called for a cull.

A 90-minute parliamentary debate about 'aggressive seagulls' is taking place between MPs tomorrow.

MORE THAN 40 GULL COMPLAINTS IN WORCESTER

DISGRUNTLED members of the public have made 41 official complaints about seagulls in Worcester since April 2015.

The figure, from Worcestershire Regulatory Services, also shows how the largest number have been for seagull mess, leading to 12 complaints.

Ten complaints were for noise, mainly from city centre residents living in flats, while there were six complaints about people feeding gulls.

Six people contacted the service to complain about seagull nests, another six said they had been attacked by one, while one complainer took issue with their 'presence'.

The data, seen by the Worcester News, also shows how 25 complaints were made in the city centre, followed by six in St John's as the second most popular location.

Lower Wick had four complainers and there were two from residents in Battenhall, with the rest scattered about.

* What do you think - would stickers on bins work? Email te@worcesternews.co.uk or call 01905 742248.