Pigeons bring down trouble on the head of Railtrack

A High Court judge ruled yesterday that landowners may be liable for a nuisance caused by wildlife on their land.

A High Court judge ruled yesterday that landowners may be liable for a nuisance caused by wildlife on their land.

Mr Justice Gibbs, sitting in London, decided that Railtrack, which owns a pigeon-infested railway bridge in Balham, south London, should pay the "reasonable" costs of dealing with the public nuisance.

He had been asked to decide who was responsible for getting rid of the pigeons which roost under a bridge in Balham High Road: Railtrack as owner of the bridge; the local authority, the London borough of Wandsworth; or the highway authority, which also has a duty to ensure the public health of the area.

"As early as the 14th century, Londoners irate with the pigeons at St Paul's Cathedral were throwing stones at them, thereby breaking windows, much to the Bishop's consternation," the judge said. "There is no evidence that the population of Balham has resorted to this form of self help."

The local authority, after taking legal advice, felt that it was up to Railtrack to deal with the problem and considered it inappropriate to pigeon-proof the bridge itself, he said.

But it had organised "ever more frequent and thorough schedules for clearing and cleaning the footpaths," he said. "The annual cleaning cost has risen to about £12,000. This compares with an agreed one-off capital cost to pigeon-proof the bridge with mesh of £9,000."

Mr Justice Gibbs said he had found the pigeon infestation and the fouling caused by it amounted to a nuisance and that Wandsworth was entitled, in its representative capacity, "to recover the reasonable costs of dealing with that nuisance".

A spokesman for Wandsworth Council said after the hearing that the case had ramifications for all local authorities. The council would be asking Railtrack to do similar work on all its other bridges in the borough that had similar problems, he said.

Railtrack was given permission to appeal.