A radical plan to reduce the number of pigeons in Southend without killing them was unveiled by council health chiefs today.

Southend Council has steadily been trapping and killing pigeons since last November as part of a long-term campaign to control the population.

Residents sparked the cull by lobbying the council about problems of being "bombed" by pigeons in areas like the High Street.

The Pigeon Control Advisory Service - alerted by This Is Essex readers - said killing pigeons was "totally pointless" and urged council chiefs to try a new plan of building nest boxes for the birds.

Now environmental health officers have revealed they are seriously considering the idea - as long as funding can be found for the scheme.

Southend Council's assistant director of housing and environmental services John Muzalewski said the idea was in its very early stages.

He said: "I have been speaking to our pest control officers about the designs of some nesting boxes.

"It is hoped at the beginning of the next financial year we will be having the nest boxes built and the intention then is to take the birds' eggs."

The scheme - as revealed by the Pigeon Control Advisory Service in This Is Essex two weeks ago - involved building nest boxes for pigeons and then taking their eggs before they hatch.

A scientific study carried out in Switzerland suggested taking pigeons eggs could lead to a drop in the population of up to 50 per cent.

So far, it is believed more than 100 birds have been killed in Southend town centre so far.

Signs have also gone up warning people not to feed pigeons and CCTV cameras in the High Street can clearly pick up persistent offenders.

The system of trapping birds and then killing them was launched to cover six sites around the town including the High Street, Prittlewell Square, Royal Terrace, Thames Drive, Milton Road and Hamlet Court Road.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.