Councillor's bird flu claims rubbished

Published in Weston & Worle News on Thu 30th Mar 2006

Claims that the £280,000 artwork planned for Big Lamp Corner could lead to a bird flu outbreak in Weston have been rubbished by North Somerset Council.

At last Tuesday's full council meeting, Cllr Bob Coleman asked if the structure would attract birds that could carry the H5N1 virus.

He said: "Should H5N1 be found in the national or local bird population, we might then find the council had supported a Trojan horse, in the shape of a cone, with built in perches for the advantage of the virus.

"The liabilities are a matter of public health and safety, due to the many obvious retail outlets purveying foods and refreshments, in a wide variety of ways.

"I ask will you abort this edifice in order to assist this council avoid this odious situation."

Cllr John Crockford-Hawley completely dismissed the fears as absurd.

He said: "This question has little to do with any genuine interest for food hygiene, public health or the economic well-being of Weston.

"If you take it to its logical conclusion, you would also remove lampposts, and you would serve anti-social behaviour orders on the slightly eccentric members of the public who feed birds."

Cllr Mike Bell said: "There is no specific risk from Silica, it has been designed to prevent birds landing on it.

"We have a contingency plan to deal with any potential outbreak of bird flu and if there was one, Silica would be the least of our problems."