Council urges park visitors to stop feeding geese

High Peak Borough Council has urged people to stop feeding Canada geese at a park in Buxton.

The council said numbers of the non-native species had "grown significantly" in the summer at the Pavilion Gardens, partly due to "people continuing to feed the birds despite repeated requests by the council not to".

According to the Labour-run authority, as well as having a "significant negative impact" on the cleanliness of the play areas, paths and grassed spaces, the birds' droppings carried bacteria, including E. coli, which could pose a health risk.

It said it was increasing cleaning of the worst affected areas and introducing sanitising stations in high-use locations.

Damien Greenhalgh, deputy leader and executive councillor for regeneration, tourism and leisure, said the authority could not "ignore these potential health risks".

"The population of geese continues to dominate, pushing out native species and affecting biodiversity," he added.

"People feeding the geese plays a significant part in attracting them to the gardens and keeping them there, so the biggest thing we can all do immediately is stop feeding them.

"I urge people in the strongest terms to support us with this."

The council said it had been implementing measures to manage the geese population, including increased signage around the park and waterside planting.

However, it said these measures had not yet had the desired effect, so officers were developing other options for managing the geese population for councillors to consider.

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