PLANS to do away with a council-run pest control service have been put on hold, amid fears that it could see an explosion in the number of rats.

The Forest Council’s cabinet debated the proposal from Cllr Chris McFarling (Green, Newland and St Briavels), but decided to look into measures to mitigate the effect of dropping the service on poor and vulnerable residents before considering any further action.

Cllr McFarling told councillors: “The number of people using the service has dropped as more people are self-treating, using information available online.

“The result of this decline in use is that the council are subsidising, through council tax, the pest control service to the tune of around £30,000 a year.

“With the current way of working, a cost-neutral position simply cannot be attained.”

But several councillors across the political spectrum objected to the proposal in its initial form.

“Times are changing and people look online, but it’s not necessarily safer,” said Cllr Di Martin (Lab, Cinderford East).

Cllr Sid Phelps (Green, Lydbrook and Ruardean) said: “Of those affected, the poorest are going to be hardest hit,” while Cllr Helen Molyneaux (Con, Tidenham), voiced concerns about how the elderly would find information or a similarly priced service if they did not have access to a computer.

One of the most vocal opponents was Cllr Max Coburn (Lab, Cinderford East) who said: “What’s going to happen is they won’t even report it because they don’t want to pay extra and there will be rats everywhere.”