Wasps are district’s number one bugbear
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WITH their love of fizzy drinks and ice lollies, wasps can certainly prove a nuisance during the summer.
And they are keeping pest controllers across Harborough busy too, as new figures have revealed this week.
A national survey by the British Pest Control Association says Harborough District Council dealt with 706 wasp problems between April 2010 and April 2011, equating to 8.4 call-outs per 1,000 people - the ninth highest in the survey of 314 English authorities.
Overall the survey showed the council dealt with 1,276 call-outs during the period, putting it 74th highest per capita.
There were also 447 call-outs for rats and 111 for mice problems.
The national survey was released after the BPCA sent Freedom of Information Act (FOI) requests to authorities across the country. Pests covered by the data include rats, mice, bedbugs, cockroaches, wasps, ants and birds.
The figures for Harborough compare to 712 pest call-outs in Kettering Borough Council - equating to 7.85 per 1,000 people.
In the area covered by Melton Borough Council the total number of call-outs was 420, or 8.52 per 1,000 people.
Rutland came top of England’s wasp call-out list, with 476, or 12.14 per 1,000 people
Harborough District Council contracts its pest control to Midland Environmental Services, however no-one from either organisation was available for comment this week.
Merv Gaskin, owner of Acclaim Pest Control based in Harborough, told the Mail wasps, bees, ants and rats tend to create the most work for him.
He said: “The weather has a big bearing on it. With all the rain we’ve had recently we’ve seen a lot of vermin problems. The rain floods out rats’ burrows and its gets them moving to high ground.
“The warm weather can bring ants and swarms of bees.
Simon Forrester, chief executive at the BPCA, said they are concerned council’s pest control budgets are being hit by cuts.
“That may make it harder for councils in England to respond as effectively as they would like, which could have implications for both quality of life and public health,” said Mr Forrester.
“Authorities are reducing manpower and looking at new ways of dealing with pests. We would urge councils thinking of outsourcing services to use BPCA members – potential public health problems need to be dealt with by professionals, and failing to tackle an infestation properly leads to additional expense and resident dissatisfaction.”
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Weather for Market Harborough
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 5 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 25 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 4 C to 10 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: North west
