THE “atrocious” state of the pavements in Cardigan town centre caused by pigeon mess has again come under the spotlight.

Cllr Yvonne O’Neill told a meeting of the town council: “Pigeon excrement is covering the streets in town and people are also leaving dog faeces.

“It’s just atrocious and not a good advert for the town. It’s something I would not want people visiting to see, let alone the locals. It’s not an easy problem to solve but I believe the pigeons and the mess they leave is becoming a public health hazard.

“There must be some way of dealing with this – perhaps pest control? They're just flying rats.”

She was backed by Cardigan mayor Cllr John Adams-Lewis, who said: “We are working so hard to attract tourists to the town and it’s a terrible sight. When people leave here, you wonder if they would want to come back.

“I have spoken to someone in one of the shops and people walk into the shop with the mess on their shoes.

“I know many of the shops do clean outside their fronts but perhaps we now need to employ a full-time handy-person to help clean the streets? Maybe that’s the only way it is going to get done but how much would that cost on the precept?”

A letter was recently sent out by the town council to local businesses and shop owners asking them to clear overflowing guttering to help alleviate the problem.

“Until we sort that out we can forget the pigeons,” said Cllr Graham Evans, who personally hand-delivered the letters. “We have to get back to the traders and town centre partnership as we often don’t know who owns many of the buildings.”