Worcester City Council

A cull's being demanded by a councillor in Worcester's ongoing efforts to try and cut the number of gulls in the city.

BBC

For several years the city council has been trying to reduce the population of gulls as they're seen as a nuisance and have even been known to attack people.

Today, the owners of a pet Chihuahua said a gull had seized and flown off with the dog in Devon.

Spikes, gull-proof litter bins and replacing eggs with fake ones have all been considered or used by Worcester City Council, which claims there are now fewer gulls compared with a decade ago.

But residents and businesses in Lower Wick have told BBC Hereford and Worcester they believe there are more than ever and are calling for stronger action.

They're vicious, flying rats and they need to be culled. All the existing policies we've tried, the 'be ever so nice to gulls' policy, trying to get them to go away, they've all failed."

Worcester's ongoing efforts to try and cut the number of gulls in the city could see businesses putting spikes on their roofs this summer

BBC

The city council's been battling for several years to try and reduce the bird population as they're seen as a nuisance and have been known to attack people.

In their latest move, council staff visited dozens of businesses to encourage them to get rid of old nests, put up spikes to stop gulls perching and look at putting up netting.

The council's also working with local takeaways to cut the amount of food available for the birds to scavenge.

The top stories for the Worcester News today include:

• Man charged with murder
• Libraries saved from cuts by Worcester City Council's £157,000-a-year pledge
• Prisoner broke female governor's jaw in two places with powerful punch

Nationally the Green party has gained 42 councillors so far, with one of them winning in Worcester with almost 58% of the vote, toppling a Conservative opponent.

The success means the Green Party now has three city councillors.

The Green gain means the city council is now made up of 17 Conservatives, 15 Labour councillors and three Greens – meaning the Tories lost their overall majority.

Marjory Bisset said she was delighted to have been elected and it was a great honour.

The Conservative leader at Worcester City Council has called on the government to "get on with Brexit" after his party lost control of the authority.

BBC

Eleven of the council's 35 seats were up for election: the Tories won seven, Labour three and the Greens secured one.

In total, the Conservatives now have 17 seats after losing one to the Green Party which has a total of three.

Like many parts of the country, the Worcester Tory leader was blaming a Brexit backlash at the ballot box.

There is a message to government here, get on with Brexit, get us out of Europe quickly and I call on my colleagues in the Conservative Party who are not voting for Theresa May's deal to vote for it and let's get this deal done."

For those of you waking up, this is how the overnight election results have panned out in the West Midlands.

LDRS

One of the big results saw the Conservative Party seize overall control of Walsall Council, taking two seats off Labour.

However, the party couldn't make enough gains to take Dudley Borough Council as it tied with Labour for the number of seats, although, with a Tory mayor, it has a casting vote when it comes to deciding later this month who'll lead the authority.

Elsewhere, the Tories lost their majority in Worcester but held on to North Warwickshire, Rugby and Tamworth.

Labour, meanwhile, held on to Coventry, Sandwell, Telford and Wrekin and Wolverhampton.

We're still waiting for the final result from Stoke-on-Trent.

Let's recap on the results we've had so far tonight.

• Coventry City Council - Labour hold
• North Warwickshire Borough Council - Conservative hold
• Rugby Borough Council - Conservative hold
• Sandwell Borough Council - Labour hold
• Tamworth Borough Council - Conservative hold
• Walsall Borough Council - Conservative gains overall control
• Wolverhampton City Council - Labour hold
• Worcester City Council - Conservatives lose overal control

There are still three to come from Dudley, Telford and Wrekin and Stoke-on-Trent.

This is the final picture from Worcester City Council after tonight's election results, with the Conservative Party losing overall control: