Pest controllers called to nearly 2,300 cases in Shropshire

Neighbouring Telford & Wrekin had one of the lowest rates in the country, however, with just 302 call-outs to deal with pests during the 2013/14 financial year.

The figures, supplied by the British Pest Control Association (BPCA), show that Shropshire Council dealt with 2,295 incidents with pests during 2013/14, amounting to 7.5 per 1,000 people. In Telford & Wrekin, the figure was just 1.81 per 1,000 people, although this is partly down to the fact that the authority only deals with rats and mice.

Of the 315 councils which provided figures, Shropshire Council had the 156th-highest number of call-outs, compared to Telford which had the 13th-lowest number.

The BPCA voiced concerns that charges being imposed by local authorities were discouraging people from reporting problems with pests.

Wasps proved to be the biggest bugbear in Shropshire district, attracting 1,137 calls, with rats coming in second place with 558 incidents.

There were no calls about cockroaches.

In Telford & Wrekin, 251 calls related to rats, 43 were about mice, and eight about wasps. The authority does not deal with any other pests.

The number of reported instances in Shropshire showed a slight increase on 2012/13, when there were 2,069 cases. However, it is a big fall compared to 2011/12, when there were 3,516 call-outs – 2,086 relating to wasps.

Telford & Wrekin has seen year-on-year falls in the number of call-outs, with 514 reported cases in 2011/12, and 339 in 2012/13.

Simon Forrester, chief executive of the British Pest Control Association, said he believed pest numbers had increased significantly across the UK, and feared that the problem was likely to get worse. He said cuts to funding had left local authorities under immense pressure to save money.

Mr Forrester said: "A growing number of authorities who once provided pest control free of charge have either introduced charges or done away with their service altogether in a bid to balance the books.

"That has already had a significant impact on the pest population because numbers are higher than ever and, if cuts continue, the problem is likely to get much worse.

"It's posing a big risk to public health and we're worried that short-term budget cuts will result in higher overall costs down the line."

A total of 679,110 pest treatments were carried out by local authorities in 2010/11. But that figure dropped to 501,595 in 2013/14. Martin Key, public protection operations manager at Shropshire Council, said the figures showed that pest activity in Shropshire had remained consistently static relative to other local authority areas since 2011.

"Whilst Shropshire Council has charged for pest control treatment since 2011 there has not been any significant reduction in requests for treatment for rats and mice inside premises and the council is committed to retaining charges for these treatments as low as commercially viable." Mr Key said at the moment they were fixed at £70 per treatment cycle for rats and mice.

He added; "Activity of public health insect pests such as bedbugs and fleas is very low in Shropshire and that figures for wasps reflect national trends linked to weather."

Jim Eaton, who runs The Pest Doctor private pest control service, said he had become noticeably busier in recent years as local authorities had cut back on pest control services.

"It's been quite busy at the moment," he said. "We have been busy on the moles, the rats have been very busy in the past week, and the bumble bees will start nesting soon."

He said pests tended to be less prevalent in densely populated areas, which might be another reason why Telford's figure was lower than for the rest of Shropshire.

"It might be because there are more private companies in the Telford area, so people are less likely to call the council," he added.

Telford & Wrekin Council was unavailable for comment.