Responsibilities of the councils regarding rats?

[FrenchieBoy]

Without going in to detail what responsibility (If any) do local councils have to control rats when a potential rat infestation on council land is reported to them in the close proximity to domestic (council) dwellings?
Can anyone offer any guidance please?

 

[8x57]

Many councils have abolished the council run services of pest controllers and will simply now direct all enquirers to look up pest control services in yellow pages or the internet. They take the view that they only provide what services they are legally obliged to under the law, which in actual fact is very few indeed.

 

[teyhan1]

I have worked for a council pest control dept.
The control of rats is the responsibility of the land owner.
The council have a duty to make sure that the county is reasonably free of rats and have legislation to be able to take people to court. From memory it is the Pest Prevention act.

 

[Dirksdonuts]

Slightly wrong guys

The Prevention of damage by Pests Act 1947 Section 2 (1) states:
"It shall be the duty of every local authority to take such steps as may be necessary to secure so far as practicable that their district is kept free from rats and mice...."

 

[shakey jake]

agree with teyhan1 council have to take steps to control thr problem, yours may not have their own pestcontrol team but should have an environmental health officer try contacting them
shakey

 

[Dirksdonuts]

Shakey I think Teyhan is right up to a point - The control of rats is the responsibility of the land owner however if the problem is beyond the landowner to get on top of the local authority must step in on really bad cases and appoint someone to deal with the problem the owner is then billed.

Nearly all local authorities now contract out to private companies their work under a tender under agreement

 

[Dirksdonuts]

The Prevention of damage by Pests Act 1947

It is the duty of the local authorities to:

• destroy rats and mice on land which they occupy, and to keep such land so far as practicable free from rats and mice.
• to enforce the duties of owners and occupiers of land, to carry out such operations to rid their land of potential hazard causing pests.

Every local authority must keep records relating to such actions taken, with regards to pest control. Land owners and occupiers must inform their local authority in writing if substantial numbers of rats, mice and other pests are present on their land. This is not applicable to agricultural land. Any person who fails to give notice will be subjected to a fine.
With regards to agricultural land, the County Agricultural Executive Committee have the right to order destruction of crops, to ensure the control of rats and mice.
The land owner/occupier is responsible for the control of all pests and costs incurred doing so. If the occupier of a premises inhibits the owner of a premises from clearing pests, the occupier will be subjected to a court order allowing the carrying out of such treatment.
The local authority will allow 7 days notice before terminating pests from any land (occupied or not). All expenses will be recoverable by county court judgement. Where property is unoccupied, it will then be the responsibility of the land/property owner to rid the site of pests.

 

[teyhan1]

It was 14 years ago I was last employed as a pest controller.
The memory has faded but still nearly right.
I did once threaten the most powerful local landlord with prosecution for rats on his pheasant shoot.
That went down like a lead balloon and they ploughed up the cover crop the next day mid-season!! Ooops

 

[FrenchieBoy]

Thanks for the informative replies guys. Now I will go into a bit of detail:
Out the back of where I live is a plot of grass land which is owned by the council where many of the local residents exercise their dogs. This bit of grass land separates the main road from our property (Which is owned by a housing association) and some council residential houses. On that grass land is a "plot" of ornamental hedgerow about 20 feet thick and 25 yards long. For the last week or so my dog has been showing a great interest in the hedgerow and yesterday evening I actually spotted three different rats scuttling into the hedgerow which Harley tried his best to get at but as he was on a lead all he managed to do was to stretch my arm a few inches. I phoned the local council this morning and was told that it was the resident's responsibility to contact a "Pest Controller" to deal with any rats as the council was not allowed to lay bait for rats anymore. As this is council land that the rats are on I struggling to understand this attitude!

 

[teyhan1]

let the dog off. problem sorted

 

[tozzybum]

You need the terrier men Pete ,couple of good jack russell,s as teyhan says job done .Dont want poison where dogs are walked but a couple of good small dogs and them rats is gone atb

 

[Dirksdonuts]

Yes dogs and a smoker will sort the problem out without poison in a public area that no one really has the control over

 

[FrenchieBoy]

I quite agree with what has been said about using a dog/dogs to control rats, I used to do it myself back in the days when I had lurchers and terriers. However Harley is a "Non-working/pet dog" and I suspect that SWMBO would have something to say if she found that I was encouraging him to chase and kill rats (You married guys will know what I mean), especially in the close proximity to one of the busiest main roads in Rochdale. On top of that with the "hedge" being so thick and dense it would have been difficult to get a smoker in to the holes where the rats are likely nesting without doing damage to the hedge, which the council and "Joe Public Do Gooders" might not have appreciated.
Anyway there is a "satisfactory outcome" to this situation - The council pest controller has just called and asked me to show him where I thought the problem was. I went out with Harley and showed him the rat runs (Harley wanted to get stuck in and down to business with the rats straight away) and he agreed that there was a potentially quite serious problem building up there and as such has laid bait boxes with Bromadiolone in them - Well out of sight of anyone walking their dogs or children, and he will be back in a fortnight to check and re-bait them.

 

[FrenchieBoy]

Just in case anyone thinks that I am against using dogs to control pests or vermin I would like to clearly state that I am not, in fact quite the opposite - I have no problem at all with using dogs to control vermin and pests - In the right situation and environment! I have even been invited out to run Harley on rabbits with a friend who runs lurchers on rabbits (Legally) but have had to (Reluctantly) decline the offer because unfortunately "the mind is willing but the body is not"!

 

[tozzybum]

Fair play to you Pete it takes a man to admit things aint what they used to be .Some things we enjoy in our youth become oops not today when things twinge and creak a bit atb

 

[shakey jake]

id question the council guys method, he should search for and remove dead rodents, two weeks in the summer too long. his method is outdated
shakey

 

[FrenchieBoy]

id question the council guys method, he should search for and remove dead rodents, two weeks in the summer too long. his method is outdated
shakey

To be fair and honest I can not say if the chap has been back to check for and dead or dying rats or not, I haven't been looking out for him and there is a high wooden fence separating our back garden and the area where the rats were so he could have been and I would not have noticed him. What I will say is that I have not seen any rats there over the last couple of days. Harley did make a lunge at something yesterday evening but as I did not see it for all I know it could have just been a young bird or (Heaven forbid ) a cat!
Hopefully the problem is now well under control!

 

[monarman]

Get some vitamin k in from the vets just incase your dog catches or eats a poisoned/dead rat....
It's far too easy these days for "pest control companies" to just come and put bait boxes out...... and not follow up and remove the ccarcasses....

 

[shakey jake]

your dog is not going to get poisoned from eating or touching a rat that has been in poisoned by bromadialone, it woyld need to consume a faur amount of bait, the issue i have with the pest controller is his actions are against CRRU.
hope its sorted
shakey

 

[monarman]

Secondary poisoning is a possibility.... hence why the CRRU was brought out......
We recently sent barn owl carcasses away for testing as some of our tenant farmers were poisoning and kot removing the dead or dying mice/rats...... all the tests came back positive for secondary poisoning from rat bait.
I've heard of other keepers who's dogs have become ill from eating poisoned rats...... so it does happen.