BASILDON Council has defended the action of its enforcement officer who issued a fine to a Pitsea woman for feeding chips to seagulls.

Basildon Nub News [L] https://basildon.nub.news/n/chip-flinging-to-the-birds-lands-couple-in-bother-and-with-a-fine-to-pay [L+]reported yesterday (Tuesday, 26 January) on the incident when Sandra Williams picked up her fixed penalty notice for throwing chips from her car to the birds at Pipps Hill retail park.

Today the council says it stands by its policy because it wants to persuade people that feeding the birds in such a way is problematic.

A statement from the council says: "The issues around feeding birds is that it encourages vermin to the area and pests can cause damage and infestation that could be avoided.

"Section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act of 1990 says 'a person is guilty of an offence if he throws down, drops or otherwise deposits any litter in any place to which this section applies and leaves it'.

"The law 'applies to any place in the area of a principal litter authority which is open to the air'.

"The law has clearly been broken in this instance and as a result the individual was issued with a fixed penalty notice."