A solution now in sight for 'Seagull Street'?

Fed-up residents of the road dubbed 'Seagull Street' could soon be in for some peace and quiet.

Over the last fortnight the Observer has covered the plight of Magpie Close in St Leonards which has become something of a second home to the town's gull population.

Locals have been deluged by hundreds of the birds who have taken to using the street's roof tops as a vantage point from which to spy on the nearby Pebsham tip.

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And the upshot of the winged invasion has been that residents have given up their gardens to piles of feathers and mountains of gull poo.

However, an end could be in sight for the long-suffering locals after the tip's operators, Biffa, met with a group of residents to try to come up with a solution.

And, according to the resident who first reported the problem to the Observer, the birds could be gone in less than a month.

Lyn Markwick met with Biffa bosses, a representative from the Environment Agency and the tip's resident falconer to chew over the problem.

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And she says that at last, after pressure from the paper, things are starting to be done.

"We talked about things in quite a lot of detail," she said. "And the best solution seems to be for Biffa to gradually put up a mound of soil between the tip and our homes.

"The idea is that it will act as a screen and mean the birds can no longer see the rubbish from our roof tops."

She said Biffa had told her the screening would be started straight away but that the eventual height would need to be green-ticked by the local authority.

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"There is also going to be a pyrotechnics team visiting our road, letting off bangs to put the birds off landing there.

"Hopefully it will all work. It is apparently going to take three weeks before we can tell if it has worked, so fingers crossed.

"If it does not we have been told Biffa will try something else. It is good to know they are taking the issue seriously.

"As I have said before, we don't have anything against the gulls themselves '“ they are only going where the food is '“ and we do not wish them any harm.

"We just want some peace and quiet and to be able to relax in our gardens again."