A COUNCILLOR from Trowbridge has promised to adopt a Dunkirk spirit to help rid the town of its pigeon menace.

West Wiltshire District councillor Tom James said he plans to call for legal action against the authority he serves on, if it fails to carry out what he labels its "constitutional obligations".

A fiery debate will reignite next month, when district council solicitors are expected to spell out the authority's reluctance to prosecute three elderly women accused of continually feeding the town's bird and rat population.

Cllr James, who said he is better recognised as the pigeon man of Trowbridge than for his role in the

2001 housing stock transfer, said he was becoming increasingly incensed by

the ongoing wrangle.

"If the district council says it will not do anything then I will be looking to the town council to put on more pressure and take legal action," he said.

"I just think it is letting these feeders get away with murder. Why should we be held to ransom?

"I was talking to a pharmacist and she told me she was plagued by pigeons and rats. I refuse to let it go lightly."

Cllr James said it was nonsense to say Trowbridge did not have a pigeon problem with businesses counting the cost of dealing with bird excrement.

Trowbridge Chamber of Commerce president Colin Scragg said the pigeons were causing serious problems for town centre firms.

One customer, who slipped on pigeon mess, is suing a Trowbridge company. Another firm is facing a five-figure bill to repair damage caused by the birds.

Animal rights protesters stormed Trowbridge in January when a cull was debated.

Trowbridge Town Council's Town Development Comm-ittee, of which Cllr James is chair, still has the right to sanction a cull.

Cllr James said any mass cull would be a let-off for the district council who should be dealing with the problem.

Cabinet members will be handed a report by council solicitor Simon Best at a meeting on April 7.

Former acting chief executive Tim Darsley told town council clerk Doug Ross the authority did not want to make "martyrs" out of the pigeon feeders, in a letter sent earlier this year.