A small, official notice outside Hove Town Hall asks people not to feed the pigeons and seagulls in the interests of public health.

It's good someone, somewhere recognises there is a public health issue but the overall response is hardly adequate to the scale of the problem.

Experts have repeatedly warned the next world flu pandemic will be spread by birds.

Meanwhile, many of Brighton and Hove's streets and buildings are infested with pigeons and gulls simply because they are fed by the city's bin bags.

Without the daily supply of food from these bags, the bird population would never have reached anything like its present level.

The torn-open bags are themselves a public health issue.

The long-term answer is obviously to reduce the food supply to the birds, as well as rats, squirrels and foxes, by requiring all food waste to go into bins with secure, bird-proof lids.

The situation has got so bad that councillors representing the city's major feeding grounds should vote to direct resources to enable largescale bird culls.

-Trevor Pateman, Brighton