Seagulls have been blamed for costing the NHS £110,000 by halting demolition work by nesting at a hospital, months after causing overspending at a sports centre.
The pesky birds were found in the former accommodation blocks at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, Wales, which were due to be turned into a new car park.
But development plans were delayed as the gulls are protected under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act.
This means it is illegal to intentionally disturb the bothersome gulls while they are nesting at the local general hospital unless a licence is granted.
The nests discovered at the hospital and the greater amount of asbestos in the buildings than originally thought is forecast to cost the board £110,000.
Seagulls have been blamed for costing the NHS £110,000 by halting demolition work by nesting at a hospital (pictured), months after causing overspending at a sports centre
The pesky birds were found in the former accommodation blocks (pictured) at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, Wales, which were due to be turned into a new car park
Diggers moving rubbish surrounded by seagulls at Whinney Hill Landfill site operated by Suez
A local Gary Hough, 62, looks up to the skies outside his home surrounded in seagulls
The birds normally return to the same nesting sites which they build from April – and lay eggs from April to May which can take four weeks to hatch.
A spokesperson for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, that runs the area’s NHS services and hospitals, said the birds also delayed work at the minor injury unit due to nesting before it was eventually demolished in October 2023.
The spokesperson said: ‘We can confirm that as the accommodation buildings at the Royal Gwent Hospital were vacant for many years and past the point of reasonable repair, they were demolished in October, 2023, to provide much-needed additional car parking space on the site.
‘As it was discovered that seagulls were nesting on the building, we sought advice from Natural Resources Wales to coordinate the demolition outside of nesting season so as to avoid any harm to the birds.’
BRIGHTON: Vicious seagulls will do anything to get their hands on a sweet treat
PORT ISAAC: A woman walks along unsuspectingly with an ice cream as a seagull swoops in, pinching it from her
And in July – just half a mile from the hospital – nesting seagulls caused a £460,000 overspend to delays to demolition the former Newport Centre – a sports and events building owned by the council.
The health board’s latest budget report states further survey works need to be completed by civil engineers before the Royal Gwent project can be confirmed.
Taxpayers were left with the eye-watering bill after a stubborn seagull nesting on a demolition site refused to budge, ballooning project costs by nearly half a million.
The Newport Centre was previously one of the city’s main leisure locations for several decades.
However with a decrease of customers at the ‘ageing’ site, the city council introduced plans to release the land so that Coleg Gwent could relocate to the site.
In the originally estimated £19.7 million project, they also detailed plans to build a lavish new leisure centre 100 metres away from the original site on Usk Way.
But when demolition of the Newport Centre began in April 2023, it was quickly brought to a screeching halt when a stubborn seagull refused to budge from its nest.
The plans to tear down the old venue, which hosted some of music’s biggest name’s such as David Bowie and Elton John, has since been completed.
Replacing the site is a lavish new further education campus which will be used by Coleg Gwent.
TENBY: A seagull swoops on mother-of-four Jane Anderson, 47, who luckily survived the attack – although her ice cream was snatched away
PORT ISAAC: An elderly man is left in shock after a seagull dive-bombed to pinch his wrap
The proposed ‘Newport Knowledge Centre’, which is a separate project, comes with an estimated price tag of £90 million.
It will be built to accommodate 2,000 students and 200 staff daily, in the hopes of bringing more people to the city centre.
The city council also aims to build a new leisure and well being centre on the opposite side of Usk river.
The site – which is currently vacant brownfield – will be the new home of a new state of the art hub, which aims to be both energy efficient and flexible for attendees.
Not only will the new building have a conventional pool, it will also boast a fitness studio, roof garden, an on-site café, bike storage facilities and better accessibility.
The overspending incurred in the delayed demolition due to the seagull will be shared between Coleg Gwent and the council, according to Newport council.
A spokesperson for Newport City Council said: ‘As reported in the cabinet papers, demolition of the former leisure centre was delayed by 40 working days due to a nesting gull.
‘Although costs are still being finalised, there is a cost sharing agreement in place with Coleg Gwent.
Aerial views of Whinney Hill Landfill site operated by Suez, which is haunted by a swarm of up to 3.000 seagulls despite being miles from the nearest coast
‘We are focused on delivering the new leisure and wellbeing centre for Newport. With its fantastic new facilities, including a modern leisure pool and lots of space for communities and activities, it will provide a space for everyone in our city, and visitors, to relax, enjoy themselves and so much more.
‘As possibly the first net-zero and all-electric facility in the UK, enabling works on-site are well underway, with building work expected to begin very soon. This work should take around 18 months.’
It comes after residents living in Hyndburn, Lancashire, claimed an ‘apocalyptic’ swarm of up to 3,000 seagulls has made it difficult to go outside.
The scavenging winged terrors flocked to the area, which is 30 miles from the nearest coast, when workers at a nearby landfill site began filling a disused quarry with rubbish.
Fed-up residents have started a community campaign to get the operator of the landfill to do more to prevent the birds from running amok.
They claim the birds arrive first thing in the morning and stay until late at night – with some even fearing their presence is devaluing the value of properties in the area.
Gary Hough, 62, said: ‘There must have been 3,000 seagulls above my house on Wednesday this week. I’ve never seen anything like it.
‘The gulls are here about 7am and head towards the tip and they come in dribs and drabs but start to congregate.
‘Then from 8am onwards, that’s when the majority of them come and it’s just constant until around 9.30pm.’
Gary and partner Cheryl Gouldstone, 59, have lived in their £200,000 semi for eight years, but fear the plague of birds might devalue properties in the area.
Residents living in the area of Hyndburn, Lancashire, claim an ‘apocalyptic’ swarm of up to 3,000 seagulls has made it difficult to go outside
They say birds have always been attracted to the site, but since last October it has got steadily worse and the issue has been turbo-charged since April.
The firm operating the Whinney Hill landfill, Suez, have implemented mitigation measures, such as setting of loud noises to scare the birds.
But Gary said all that does is scatter the birds overhead and cause them to drop their mess on cars, washing and driveways.
The Environment Agency said it was carrying out regular visits to the site and checks on the impacts of odour and pests in the surrounding communities.
John Neville, of the Environment Agency, said: ‘We’re taking action to address issues at Whinney Hill landfill site and recognise the distress the odour and gulls are causing to members of the community.
‘We have made it clear to the operator, Suez, that they must take steps to minimise the impact.
‘We do have officers regularly within the community carrying out odour assessment.
‘We’ll continue to carry out regulatory inspections of the site and will consider any appropriate enforcement steps to ensure the site is compliant with its environmental permit.’
