Pest control services to return to North Devon after 20 years

Demand is high and council can make income

Pest control services are being reinstated at North Devon Council after a break of 20 years.

The authority thinks it can earn an income by dealing with bed bugs, rats and wasps, and says it gets a “relatively high” number of concerns from the public about them.

It says the lack of an experienced pest control officer leaves it unable to resolve problems in the district and feels that a comprehensive service for residents and businesses should be delivered.

In a table of costs presented to the council’s strategy and resources committee, it estimates that the fee for getting rid of wasps would be £82, fleas £269, bedbugs £290 (one-to-three rooms), rats £180 and cockroaches £200. In some cases this would include two or three visits.

The figures are based on a service provided by Plymouth City Council but East Devon, Exeter and Teignbridge also currently offer some form of pest control.

Plymouth has advised that it earns £111,000 in incomem, with costs of £48,000.

Teignbridge spends £30,000 a year on providing the service and currently offers a free treatment to get rid of rodents, but is reviewing this service.

East Devon and Exeter charge £90 and £72 respectively for getting controlling rats, but given that an active rodent infestation that requires baits and treatment would typical require at least three visits, the council was told that this must be “highly subsidised”.

Officers don’t expect to compete with ‘man-in-a-van’ single person businesses, but as the council has a strategy to earn money, it believes it would not be doing anything wrong in competing with commercial firms.

The council’s lead environmental health officer Darren Hale said the implementation of the pest control service would depend on hiring a suitably qualified person. Other costs would be minimal as it would just involve a van, which could be repurposed from another vehicle in the fleet.

He said the council stopped the pest control service, which received around 1,200 requests a year, because of staff leaving and this coincided with a change in pricing.

The service stopped six months after being contracted out.

The council’s environmental health team has to investigate all reports of rodent and other pest problems and take enforcement action where landowners don’t comply.

In the last three years they had received 72 complaints about pests.

Mr Hale said the pest control officer would need to be “commercially  astute” to win contracts with schools, hotels and leisure providers.

“Given the large leisure and hospitality sector, combined with housing, farming and industrial sites within North Devon there is considerable scope to market services to these establishments,” he said.

The authority had spent £12,000 to get rid of pests at its own premises during 2023/24 which include Brynsworthy Environment Centre and the crematorium.

Cllr Malcolm Prowse (Ind, Bratton Fleming) said people ring the council every dat because they still think it has a pest control service.

Cllr Pru Maskell (Con, Braunton West and Georgeham) said a lot of people feel more comfortable with a council-run service than private companies.