Falkirk Council bring back pest control service

Falkirk Council has reinstated its pest control service, starting this week.
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The service will be paid-for but residents on benefits will be able to get a discount of 50 per cent.

The charges will be: wasps, £50.50; vermin, £57; and treatable insects, £58.

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The call to reintroduce the service was initially made by Bo’ness councillor David Aitchison.

Falkirk Council are reintroducing its pest control serviceFalkirk Council are reintroducing its pest control service
Falkirk Council are reintroducing its pest control service

Councillors voted for the service to return in February’s budget, which should have meant it was reinstated in April.

During lockdown, SNP councillors argued that the financial impact of Covid-19 meant that the council could no longer afford all of the budget decisions it had made.

But when the decision returned to the council’s emergency executive in June, Labour and Conservative councillors once again voted in favour of the service.

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It re-started today (Tuesday) and people will be able to request jobs via the MyFalkirk app.

Councillor Aitchison said: “I know that people across the Falkirk Council area will welcome the return of this much-needed pest control service.

“It is an essential service and clearly one that our local authorities should provide, giving people the reassurance that they can call on expert assistance to end the terrible situations that infestations create.

“At the start of the Covid-19 shutdown rats were on the move, business closures removing sources of food and sparking a rodent explosion in areas where they hadn’t been seen before as they went on the hunt for new provisions.

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“That often meant them coming in close contact with residents causing lots of confusion and alarm about what they should do next.

“We’ve a perennial problem with wasps and bees, often because people don’t know which ones are a problem that needs tackled or something that will go away on its own.

“And there are hosts of insects that once they get established can cause mayhem.

“Local people deserve support dealing with this. But because of cash cuts forced on us by ten years of SNP austerity we weren’t providing it.

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“Thankfully, Labour’s overturning of the SNP’s proposed budget in February and fighting off an attempt by SNP councillors to omit it from revised spending plans a couple of months later means that situation has been reversed and people can now rightly turn to their local authority for help.”

Visit here for full details of the service.

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