IT’S summer time, the height of the tourist season and the children are on school holidays and the town is getting an influx of visitors, so what’s the best thing to do according to some?

Well the answer is put your rubbish out days before collection is due and as anyone who has lived in Penarth for a time will tell you this time of year the seagulls have young to feed and to the bird a black bag means possible food. And so they rip open the bags spilling contents all over the pavement and any card or paper or plastic gets blown everywhere by the wind.

Just of late we have had a spate of black bags discarded around town and at the mercy of the gulls, strangely these bags are not dumped outside the perpetrators’ own door but in the latest case brought to Arcot Street (probably in the boot of someone’s car, as chevron at the bottom of the street is the ideal spot for such anti-social behaviour), so it’s dumped next to some other poor soul’s home, adding insult to injury.

Why are the police not taking action or the council as it’s not the first it has happened – even I, along with others, were able to discover the culprit/s live on a different street from the ones it’s dumped on and none of us are Sherlock Holmes.

I myself would urge the people who possess any sense of community to take note of who is dumping such rubbish, I do not mean people who put rubbish out a day early for the council but those who put it out six or seven days before collection leaving the seagulls to wreak havoc and attracting flies, rats, urban foxes, etc, not including the stench.

Even worse is dumping your rubbish next to the homes of others in another street because you will be spared the smell and the mess from the gulls.

In winter this problem abates due to no young to feed but in summer it’s open season on black bags, spare a thought for others and the reputation of the town.

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