The issue of pigeons within the town centre has been a matter of debate for some years and recently concerns from some local traders have placed the issue firmly on the agenda. At Tuesday night’s council meeting, what is clear is that there is no easy solution with many differing opinions about how we might be able to stop the concentration of pigeons in certain areas.
As a Town Council, we have limited knowledge about how best to deal with this and therefore we are now taking advice for our colleagues within Wiltshire Council’s Public Protection Service to better understand what the impact on public health is, and what is good practice for the management of pigeons within town centres. We are also in discussion with our pest control contractor, looking at what steps can be taken in areas such as the Little Bittox to stop birds from roosting in confined spaces. What did come out of the town council’s discussion, is that in principle the Council favours non-lethal methods of control.
London Road traffic and the speeds that vehicles travel outside of the peak time is also exercising the Council and therefore we are currently in the process of asking for “Metro Counter” to be placed in London Road to give us up to date traffic data which will include average speeds, traffic volumes and how many of each vehicle classification regularly use the road. As part of the data collection process, we are keen to see peak times separated out, as it is felt that this will distort the data, with traffic speeds at these times generally much slower, if not at a standstill! One of the outcomes the Town Council would like to achieve is the setting up of a “Community Speed Watch”, who can regularly go out and capture accurate information about the speed of individual vehicles and when a speeding vehicle is identified, this information is shared with police for further action.
At the beginning of the week hundreds of people turned out very early as Devizes hosted the start of day two of the Queens Baton Really. Members of the community such as Thelma Edwards who is championing the links between the environment and wellbeing locally and Samuel Russell-Pierce who has Down Syndrome and who is taking on 21 personal challenges to raise money for 2 local charities were baton bearers.
Tomorrow is carnival day so keep your eyes out on local diversions and road closure later in the afternoon or even better come and watch it as the parade pulls of the Green at 5:45. The Council team are putting in a float so don’t forget to give us a cheer as we pass. This year we are pirates, so there may be some water involved!!
Town Clerk, Simon Fisher