Rats gnaw away at clifftop

Deal-based Sector Officer Andy Roberts has held a site meeting with Rother pest control officer David Carter to evaluate how Bexhill's Coastguard cliff-rope team could abseil down the cliff to block the network of rat-holes with chicken wire after they have been baited with poison.

Rother leader Cllr Graham Gubby has been outspoken in his condemnation of anti-social motorists who have created the problem by throwing food scraps out of their car windows.

Official Rother signs which went up on cliff-edge fencing erected at Galley Hill at the end of last week warning the public not to feed animals in the area.

The signs were immediately misinterpreted as indicating a Rother cull of Galley Hill's rabbit population. But the real problem is far more serious than rabbits, says Rother leader Cllr Graham Gubby.

"It's mainly been brought about by the stupidly irresponsible people who go up there, have their fish-and-chips, their burgers and the rest of it and throw all their scraps on the ground.

"There's now an infestation of rats up there.

"We are now following up on a number of wholly justifiable complaints from members of the public that there are rats there. "The reason that the pest control officer and the Coastguard are there today is because they need to do a risk assessment and they need the harnesses and safety equipment because what they need to do is bait the cliff face, the cliff edge and the top surface.

"Because of the number of complaints, as an authority we are determined to get on top of it this Summer."