Pigeon "hotels" are to be set up in an effort to stop a growing bird mess problem.

Brighton and Hove will become the first towns in Britain to launch a central strategy to cut population numbers, with businesses, schools and the council getting involved.

Dovecotes, known as hotels because of their comfortable nesting facilities, will be built to encourage female pigeons to nest in selected spots rather than on roofs.

Their eggs will then be replaced with china replicas, which they will try in vain to hatch rather than spend their time mating.

It is hoped this will cut the towns' present estimated 500 population by half during the next ten years. Guy Merchant, director of the Pigeon Control Advisory Service (PICAS), has held talks with Bri-ghton and Hove Council, Churchill Square and Bri-ghton station managers.

He said: "We want to create a town where people can walk freely without having to watch out for bird droppings.

"It should also cut down on mess from binbags being ripped open."

It is hoped the dovecotes, developed in Switzerland, will attract them to specific areas.

Mr Merchant is calling for a public education campaign to stop people feeding the birds.

He said: "If you gradually reduce the amount of food you give pigeons, they will slow down breeding and the population will fall. It is not a case of starving them.

"It is far more civilised than culling them by shooting or poisoning."

There are several nesting "hotspots" around Brighton and Hove, among them Brighton station and Churchill Square.

Manager Derek Maddison said: "Feral pigeons are a health hazard.

"The hotels are an excellent idea."

A Brighton and Hove Council spokeswoman said: "We are in favour of common-sense measures like this to control the population in the most humane way possible."