When will Bath clean up its act?

It might help sell newspapers but l am wondering whether the Bath Chronicle has really got the villain of the piece on its front page today?
Yes l will strongly agree the ‘urban’ gulls are proving a real nuisance but aren’t we sort of shouting at the flames after lighting the fire?

This apparent ‘nod’ towards Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds certainly grabs the attention but it is we – the citizens and visitors within this World Heritage city – that are the real menace.

What we ‘scatter’ on our pavements is exactly what catches the eye of our feathered ‘friends’. As l have said many times before – why fly to the coast and out to sea in search of food when it is freely available on the streets of the city or ‘offered’ in easy-to-open plastic sacks.

Bath you are a disgrace. Your urban environment is covered in rotting food and gull droppings.Your heritage splattered and stinking.

I watched with real embarrassment as a group of tourists tried to pass by a gull busy picking open sacks on the High Street.

I was back again this morning to see that tampered pile – with more rubbish added – finally collected.

Much of the mess that had spilled out of them was left until a council road sweeping machine made a pass and scooped it up – still leaving grease stains all over the new paving.

In Milsom Street last night  l watched as raw chicken was scattered on the pavement from more sacks being pecked open.

Will someone please sort this out.We need refuse like this picked up on the same day it is deposited.Or not put out until a collection is due.

ALL  rubbish should be in bins or seagull- proof bags. These things must be provided for everyone. Commercial and residential. It is a price worth paying. Surely a drop in the number of tourists visiting Bath would be a much greater expense to bear.

We are in danger of getting a bad reputation and of putting off the very people who help economically sustain our historic city.

We care so much about preserving the past but we have to present our heritage very much in the present and also think about the city’s future.

I welcome comments from councillors, our MP and every citizen or visitor to a city l don’t want to see shamed in this way.

Don’t blame gulls for our bad habits. Please Bath – clean up your act.

Please also note: Bath receives more than four million visitors a year.The Service Sector – tourism,retail and leisure – supports 79% of local jobs!