Devizes Town Council has agreed to give £900 towards paying for a hawk to scare off seagulls that have turned the lives of people near the Garden Trading Estate into a nightmare.

Wiltshire councillor Laura Mayes told the council that for many householders it was like constantly living with the noise of late-night party going on next door.

She said: “People are becoming sleep deprived and we really have to try and find a solution.”

She said seagulls could breed for 25 years and the numbers would keep on growing unless action was taken now.

Roundway Parish Council had already agreed to pay £5,000 towards the cost of the hawks and other measures, such as taking their eggs and replacing them with fake ones.

Devizes Area Board is also contributing £3,500 and a further £1,000 has come from public protection at Wiltshire Council.

The town council’s community and civic resources committee was told in a report: “During the period of March to September the gulls nesting in the area cause an enormous amount of distress by their continuous and loud noise during the night.

“There is also an issue with the area being covered with gull excrement.”

People living in White Horse Way are some of the worst affected and last summer some residents said they were thinking of moving away because of the noise and mess.

A professional hawk handler is being employed to bring hawks to the area to scare off the birds. The hawks are expected to start flying next week.