Animal and Pest Control

General Information

Whilst the Council does not have a legal duty to carry out treatments for pests, Environmental Service's has a team of Environmental Health Officers and Pest Control Officers who will respond to enquiries and requests for help and will do necessary treatments in certain cases.

The team can help in identifying the particular animal or insect and either arrange for a treatment to be carried out or, where no service is available, advise on what steps can be taken to resolve the problem

The team treats for rats and mice and some insect pests, including, fleas, bed bugs, cockroaches ants and wasps.

In addition to the above officers will give advice on foxes, badgers, pigeons and squirrels and recommend the best course of action for the elimination of these (except badgers which are a protected species).

All telephone advice is given free of charge.

Please contact 345345 for full details or to request a service.

Services Provided By the Council

Free Services

The Council offers a free service to residents of the Borough for the treatment of the following pests :

Rats
Mice
Cockroaches

We will try to respond to request for treatment of these pests within 48 hours but, particularly during the summer months, the high level of complaints may lead to slight delays in this time period.

Charged Services

The Council makes a nominal charge for treatment of the following pests based on the time taken to treat, the cost of chemicals and materials and general overheads.

Wasp nests - £46 including VAT                   
Ants - £57 including VAT                              
Fleas - £67 including VAT                            
Bedbugs - £98 including VAT                       

Prices correct on 2nd April 2013.

Seasonal fluctuations in demand affect our response time but we normally aim to visit within 3 days unless you specify a later date. We operate throughout the borough as follows:

                    Postcode Area Covered

Monday             S41
Tuesday            S40, S41
Wednesday      S43, S44
Thursday          S43, S44
Friday                S40

If you are in receipt of Income Support, Council Tax Benefit, Housing Benefit or some other income related benefits these charges are reduced by 50%.

No service is offered for  other pests such as rabbits, foxes, squirrels, moles, silverfish, woodlice, miscellaneous beetles and garden pests.


Commercial Contracts

We also provide pest control contracts for premises make your enquires on (01246) 345345 or fill in the online form.

Commercial premises - (hourly rate + materials + VAT). We also offer a fixed price treatment of wasps nests for £49.50 plus VAT (£59.40 including VAT)


Insect Identification Service

Officers are able to identify the majority of pests common to households and will be happy to give you details of any strange insect which you may find, free of charge. In the rare event of non-identification, we will send the specimen to a special laboratory for identification on your behalf.

Links to related websites:

British Pest Control Association Website

Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use