Historic Troon building plunged into ‘sewage and pigeon nightmare’ after owners of long-closed shop fail to maintain it

Residents of an historic building have been living in a sewage and pigeon nightmare.

And it’s all because the owner of a long-closed shop has failed to keep it maintained.

The back of the shop is now being used as a pigeon loft with local birds able to fly right in.

Now fed-up neighbours Kate McGuiness and Mary McIntosh have made a public plea for action.

They are campaigning for landlord Tommy McAvenna, 72, to stump-up for repairs to his disused shop in the old Co-op building in Portland Street on Troon.

And retired Kate, addressing Troon Community Council last week, said: “An estate agent has told us the flats are unsaleable because of the mess below us.

“We should not have to live like this.

“We have pigeons flying about and nasty smells in the close.

“This is a C-listed building and when I wished to put a vented slate on the back of the roof I was told not to damage the historical nature of the place.

“Yet the front façade has been allowed to go to rack and ruin.”

Mr McAvenna, who has other property in the town, bought the shop in 1998.

It was the former premises of disgraced lawyer Peter Anderson, jailed for defrauding clients.

A letter sent to the landlord was returned to the council unopened and it lay there for six weeks, says McGuiness.

She added: “A 28 day notice has now been issued but still there has been no action.

“In mid June I stood on my doorstep to watch the Glasgow taxis coming into town.

“I was so embarrassed at the comments of the people standing there about the state of the place that I went back into my house.

“We are asking for community support in moving matters along. This is downright insanitary. As it is a private building, environmental health can only ask for access and cannot insist.”

The residents have pleaded their case to South Ayrshire Council.

Mary McIntosh said: “I am concerned about the structure of my property and am concerned about the smells.

“My kitchen has been flooded with raw sewage after it came up through the drains.”

Mr McAvenna was unavailable for comment on multiple days.

South Ayrshire Councillor Craig Mackay confirmed a formal repairs notice has now been sent.

He said: “That 28-day period is about to expire and hopefully we can more forward.”

 

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.

Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)

MML versus ECP

The gloves are off. And the cat is wondering if it will be once more out of the bag. Quite possibly, it might be set among the pigeons. Which, these days appear to be a role played by our state institutions, which have become used to ruffling a few feathers here and there.

This week has seen Hafiz Saeed return to the Pakistani spotlight. For two very important reasons.

Firstly, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has refused to register the Milli Muslim League (MML) as a political party, thereby scuppering its electoral hopes for next year. This is a welcome move. And it is heartening to see that the ECP acted upon the request of the Interior Ministry, pending an independent investigation. Though not before the ‘political’ party contested the NA 120 by-election in Nawaz Sharif’s old hood.

Though, as to be expected, the MML isn’t taking any of this lying down. Prior to this latest development, it had already set up offices in Peshawar with an eye on by-polls there. Yet it’s after the ECP ruling that things have taken an interesting, if not alarming, turn. The MML says it’s suing the ECP for defamation — to the cool tune of Rs 100 million — for daring to refer to it as a proscribed outfit.

Secondly, the Lahore High Court is this week expected to move to have Hafiz Saeed, who is wanted by India for his role in the Mumbai terrorist attacks, released from house arrest unless and until the political set-up can bring concrete evidence against him of his misdemeanours. Today, all of this is a lose-lose situation for Pakistan and its international standing. Not only will this add fuel to the Trump fire about support for certain undesirables — it will undermine considerably this country’s recent calls to put the Kashmir issue back under the UN auspices, after an overdue absence.

Yet for ordinary Pakistanis, the domestic plot thickens. At the time of the MML’s infamous participation in NA 120, a retired Army officer had ‘come clean’ about what he termed as the military establishment’s strategy to mainstream — not disarm — its proxies. Last week, the head of the military’s public relations wing confirmed that he was aware of what he described as the government’s mainstreaming plan. While the Interior Ministry disclosed that it had approached the ECP upon the recommendation of the security establishment. Regardless of who is passing the buck to whom — neither the civvies nor the khakis has denied the existence of this plan.

The matter of the MML versus the ECP could have been avoided. Meaning that the government committed a gross misstep when it placed Hafeez Saeed under house arrest back in January of this year. At the time, no concrete grounds were given for his detention. Though many members of Pakistan’s religious right pointed to the timing of this, which coincided with Donald Trump taking his place in the White House hot seat and the ruling party’s intermittent flirtations with neighbouring India.

Be that as it may, the way forward for any functioning democracy is to seek relief from the courts. Thus Hafiz Saeed should have faced due process before the Anti-Terrorism Court; a process that might or might not have included access by a visiting Indian investigating team. That this was never on the cards raises questions as to whom is protecting whom; and which side would be more damaged by the fallout of such a move.

If we were the cat, we wouldn’t settle for pigeons. We would go to London to see the Queen.

 

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.

Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)

Our pigeon plague is making feathers fly

ECHUCA’S pigeon plague is no flight of fancy according to those on the frontline fighting increasing numbers of birds and worsening volumes of pigeon droppings.

It might not be in the asbestos category but there is no doubt a health risk exists because of the makeup of the bird’s droppings.

Echuca-Moama Uniting Church is now praying for intervention – divine would be fine but in the temporal space church spokesman John Ferris would be really happy if Campaspe Shire got in the game.

His church has spent close to $30,000 for temporary relief from the problem but several other large buildings in that part of town – from Campaspe College of Adult Education and the Backpackers to the Paramount Cinema to the old fire station – are facing the same problems.

“It has been suggested we could fix this problem by installing things such as spikes and ultrasonic bird repellers,” Mr Ferris said.

“We have such a repeller, it is 20 times the size suggested by Barry McDougal in a letter to the editor in the Riv,” he said.

“It’s on the church roof and it does work in the area that the speaker’s sound reaches – so the pigeons have shuffled along and now perch just outside the range of the sound.”

Mr Ferris said there is a nesting pair of peregrine falcons in the church tower and they are enthusiastically doing their bit, but at a pigeon a day they are being outbred.

“It is our hope the shire council can provide support and leadership in assisting the occupiers of affected properties (of which there are many) in an eradication process,” he said.

“We can disturb the birds nesting and roosting positions on our roof, but we are unable to rid ourselves of them totally without such council support.

“We have a request in with the shire asking for their leadership and support on this. Our thinking is an eradication program led by them on behalf of property owners; who should be asked to bear associated costs.

“But we haven’t heard anything yet.”

 

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.

Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)

Villarreal’s pitch is attacked by a plague of pigeons

A group of pigeons have caused havoc at Villarreal’s Estadio de la Ceramicaby causing some damage to the playing field.

In a short amount of time, an ever increasing number of the birds have made their home on the field and are eating seed on the surface, which is cutting up the pitch.

Their presence is also problematic in terms of health and cleanliness as it could increase the chance of possibly transmitting diseases and a plan has been put in place to control the problem.

Ultrasound systems are now being used to ward them off, while spikes are being put in place in addition to prevent pigeons nesting in parts of the stadium.

 

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.

Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)

‘Bird brain’ arrested after he reported intruders on roof which were pigeons

A MAN rang police to report intruders on his roof – only to discover the unwanted guests were in fact pigeons.

Police were called to Egerton Court on Barrow Island this morning after a 20-year-old male resident reported that someone was attempting to gain access to his flat.

When police arrived, it turned out the noise he was hearing from his roof was in fact caused by pigeons.

However, police then realised the man was wanted and subject to a warrant for allegedly breaching a community order, and so he was arrested and taken to Barrow Police Station.

 

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.

Contact Info: 1- 877– 4– NO-BIRD (www.pigeonpatrol.ca)