North-east MSP chairs meeting on seagulls issue
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast Karen Adam chaired a public meeting on the seagull issue that has become prevalent in Aberdeenshire and Moray.
Residents in the area had contacted the MSP regarding concerns about the sheer number of gulls along the north coast and the impact gulls had had on the wellbeing and safety of members of the public.
The public meeting took place virtually on the evening of Wednesday, September 22 at 7pm with constituents who had been in contact with the MSP about the issue. The meeting took place over two hours and had 45 attendees that participated.
Ms Adam reached out to Aberdeenshire and Moray councils, bird and conservation organisations, and a pest control expert to sit on the panel of the public meeting in a bid to collectively tackle the issue that locals have been facing.
A substantial number of constituents had been in touch with the MSP to highlight the impact gulls were having along the Banffshire and Buchan Coast.
The panellists were:
- Dr Andrew Douse, policy and advice manager at Nature Scotland and is an expert in ornithology (the study of birds).
- Keith Marley, the founder of the New Arc project. It has worked with Nature Scotland on a variety of work.
- Councillor Graham Leadbitter, leader of Moray Council and represents the Elgin city ward.
- Gordon Buchanan, service manager of the protective services department at Aberdeenshire Council.
- George Duguid, a local pest control specialist, running an Ellon-based company GD Pest Control, which uses hawks to control gulls at places like Pittodrie football stadium.
- Kevin Newill, owner of Humane Wildlife Solutions. He has 10 years of experience working within wildlife protection before setting up Humane wildlife solutions, which was established to help others overcome conflicts with wildlife and nature, such as the seagull issue.
Constituents pre-submitted questions to Ms Adam and were then able to make further contributions during the meeting, ensuring everyone had their voice heard.
The Banffshire and Buchan Coast MSP has been vocal in her stance on working to find a positive solution to the ongoing issue with her public campaign already seeing Aberdeenshire Council set up a review into how they deal with the issue.
Ms Adam said:“Thank you again to everyone who’s contacted me about the gull issue. From Buckie to Boddam and across the north-east coast, this is an issue that has had a profound impact on locals for a long time.
“It’s one of the key issues that has been continuously brought to my attention since I was first elected in May.
"When this first became apparent by constituents contacting me, I pledged that I would do everything I could to help tackle the issue within my role as an MSP.
“The public meeting that I chaired has been immensely helpful, and I hope is the beginning of collaborative working across local authorities and the relevant organisations to make a collective effort to take safe and humane measures to tackle the problem.
"I’m really glad as well that everyone who stayed until the end were able to have their say and voice their thoughts.
"Every contribution made by members of the public was constructive and respectful and there are a lot of action points to take away from this.”
She added: “There is no single measure that will have much of an impact to address the effect gulls are having on the wellbeing and safety of people living on the coast.
"However, and this is why collaborative working is so important, by introducing a package of measures, we may be able to tackle the gull issue head on.
"It’s going to be a tough task but I will do everything I can within my remit so that we can get a positive outcome from this.
“I’ve said many times before while campaigning on this, people have been continuously woken by gull noise at early hours in the morning, having their property splattered and damaged, and have had to cope with aggressive gulls protective of their nests.
"I understand the impact it’s having and that’s why organising this meeting was really important. The concerns of my constituents are now out in the open and we also had the opportunity to learn what can be collectively done to combat this.
“I know that realistically this will be challenging, it will take years to get under control, but that’s exactly why it’s important we start preparations as soon as possible, there are measures we can take in both the short and long term on this.
"I was only elected in May but now I am in a position where I may be able to affect change. Someone needs to do something about this and I’m willing to try my best to do exactly that.”
