ANTI-SOCIAL behaviour orders could be slapped on two elderly women if they don't stop feeding pigeons.

Town councillors in Trowbridge have asked West Wiltshire District Council to confirm they will take action if the women continue to feed the birds even when a proposed £10,000 dovecote is built.

Cllr Tom James said: "We are loath to spend the £10,000 we have on a dovecote because all the signs are that these women will not stop feeding the pigeons.

"We have asked the district council that, if we do invest all this public money in a dovecote, they will take action against these people if they continue.

"We would want the district council to take legal action, which would probably take the form of ASBOs because if these woman carry on feeding them the dovecote would be a waste of money."

The birds have caused thousands of pounds of damage to buildings in the town centre and cost even more in clean-up costs.

Solutions proposed have ranged from bringing in a hawk to scare the birds away to spiking their food with contraceptives or culling them.

Two years ago experts from the Pigeon Control Advisory Service (PICAS) were called in and recommended a roosting area be provided for the birds.

All past attempts to persuade the elderly women who feed them to stop have failed but district council spokesman Louise Knox this week said the council would not confirm whether they could ever face legal action.

She said: "The PICAS report recommends that the most effective way of reducing the pigeon population is to provide a pigeon loft and a designated feeding zone.

"Nowhere in the PICAS report does it recommend prosecution of persistent feeders as an effective method of reducing the pigeon population.

"Once the loft and feeding zone are in place, we will keep the situation under review. Should this method fail to have the desired effect, then we will take further advice from PICAS and, or other experts."