'Council to blame for sick pigeons' - fancier (From The Northern Echo)

'Council to blame for sick pigeons' - fancier

11:18am Thursday 9th September 2010 in

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A PIGEON fancier has accused a council of cruelty over the state of lofts on a Darlington allotment.

Andrew Liddle claims substandard roofing on the Darlington Borough Council built lofts at Arnold Road, off Haughton Road, are threatening the safety of thousands of pounds worth of pigeons.

The lofts were built about three years ago as part of the transferral of Hundens Lane allotments to the new site on Arnold Road.

Mr Liddle pays rent to the council for his loft, and claims poor workmanship on the lofts is causing illness to his birds.

He said: "I went into the shed yesterday, where I keep my birds, and in the bad weather it had ripped the tarpaulin off the roof. There were four or five inches of water in the loft and all the pigeons were crouched in the corner of their boxes. They were all wet."

Mr Liddle had been preparing his birds for a national race in Chelmsford, but has had to withdraw about half of them because of the situation.

"When they get wet they start getting disease," he added. "We are not talking hundreds of pounds here, we're talking thousands.

"It's a nice allotment to look at, but it's the way the sheds have been built in the cheapest way possible."

Mr Liddle said the roof material has been tacked down, but in the wind and rain it has come free. He said it should have been secured with bitumen.

"All the lofts here are the same," he added. "They are all leaking."

Mr Liddle said one allotment holder, an 84-year-old man, has paid £350 out of his own pocket to replace the roofing so his birds would be kept safe from the elements.

He added: "If we are paying our rent, we shouldn't have to pay on top of that, the council should be doing something about it. It's cruel.

"They say there's not enough money to sort it out, but if we withheld our rent they would kick us off the allotment."

A council spokeswoman said: "We are aware of the problems concerning the allotments. "A series of meeting have been held, including representatives from the council and the plot holders on the Arnold Road site, with the aim of putting together a working plan to resolve the main issues."