Prevention of Nuisance from Birds

London's local authorities face the daily challenge of maintaining and improving the cleanliness of London for those who live in, work in or visit the Capital. This Code of Practice sets out the powers contained in the London Local Authority Act 2004 relating to one of the perennial problems that London's boroughs face - the nuisance created by certain bird species.

Some bird species have become a nuisance in our town centres and urban open spaces as their populations swell. Our modern towns and cities provide the ideal environment for certain bird species to thrive. They thrive on our food scraps, discarded as litter or given to them by the public, and our buildings provide suitable roosting and nesting sites.

As a result some bird species have become a pest, fouling pavements, buildings and monuments, contaminating food stores and in some cases transmitting diseases. Large numbers of roosting birds also give rise to odour and noise complaints.

The only effective way to minimise this nuisance is to remove food sources, roosting sites and breeding sites. London boroughs are working to achieve this through their activities to keep the capital clean and through education programmes with the public.

London has led the way nationally, in pushing for legislative changes to allow local authorities to tackle nuisance from birds and provide the services that people want to keep London's streets clean. This echoes the National Government policies to improve the quality of the local environment.