Hackney Council’s proactive work to rid the streets of pigeons and gulls has made it the second biggest spender on bird control in the country.

Figures obtained by the BBC show the town hall forked out £162,683 between 2013 and 2016 on ridding streets of pigeons and gulls, second only to Southwark.

The sum has been put down to the town hall staying ahead of the problem.

Neighbourhoods and parks boss Cllr Feryal Demirci, said: “Our in house pest control team proactively deals with pigeons on our 35,000 council homes as well as private homes and commercial premises.

“Prevention is better than cure, so last year we installed pigeon proofing measures on over 500 buildings.

“This means we get relatively few complaints about pigeons from residents, as we try and sort the situation out before it becomes too serious.”

Dee Ward-Thompson, technical manager at the British Pest Control Association, said proofing was the ultimate way to tackle the problem.

“It’s the best solution,” she told the Gazette. “Proactive work is the right way to go about it and we fully support that. “But if you do one building it can encourage them to move on to the one next door. What a lot of councils are doing is working with other building owners to proof as many as possible.”