THE fact a 94-year-old partially blind widowhas to fork out over £200 to rid her home of rats is obviously unacceptable. To add insult to injury, she subsequently learns she could have bought the same poison from a local store for £3.80.

Carmarthenshire county council axed their pest control service 18 months ago in a bid to cut costs.

Council officers maintain Ammanford does not have a rat problem, but county councillor Deian Harries – someone who has witnessed this issue at first hand – knows different.

He now wants the local authority to bring back the ratcatcher – but as a paid-for service, arguing that this would still be better than the type of fees charged by private exterminators.

This seems a logical suggestion because, as the services of private exterminators are obviously out of the reach of many hard-up people, the outcome will surely be more rat infestations.

 

COMMUNITY and town councils are having to consider whether to take over the running of public toilets the local authority is seeking to offload in the face of huge financial cutbacks.

Such a move may only save the authority £92,000 a year, yet it’s potentially a huge undertaking for grass roots councils. It’s a big call – but one smaller councils must address as their role changes.