Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of urban gull populations on public (a) health and (b) safety.

The two large gull species frequently seen in urban areas are the lesser black-backed gull and herring gull. There is a long term decline in the breeding population of both, which is most acute in coastal, rural areas. At the same time as this decline, and notwithstanding that populations of these birds in towns and cities are problematic to estimate, urban populations may have increased in recent years.

Defra has not made a recent assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of urban gull populations on public health and safety. All wild birds in England, including gulls, are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The law allows for certain exemptions to this protection, such as to preserve public health and safety.