A PENDLE pigeon fancier recently ordered to take down his lofts has again ruffled the feathers of council bosses.

David Brown, 62, was prosecuted by Pendle Council last week for keeping pigeons in two coops without planning permission, on land near his home in Keighley Road, Colne.

But Mr Brown has now been given an enforcement notice to clean up different lofts following complaints from neighbours about the smell.

Today Mr Brown pledged to clean up the mess in the yard of a house in Ruskin Avenue, Colne, after complaints to the council about the state of the huts.

Next-door neighbour, Michaela Farrar, 22, said the situation had being ongoing for over a year and that Mr Brown turns up at 1am to feed the birds.

She said: "The smell is really foul. The garden is a mess and there have been rats. We like to make sandwiches and sit out to eat outside, but by the time we get out to eat them we have to go in because we feel sick."

Mr Brown said the house belonged to his mother before she died and was in the process of being sold.

He said: "The neighbours are just causing trouble and it has just blown out of all proportion.

"We are in the process of selling the house so the pigeons will not be there for much longer."

Stuart Arnott, Pendle Council's Environmental Health Manager, said Mr Brown had one week to comply with the notice served last week or the council will hire a contractor and bill him for cleaning the huts.

He added: "We have served a notice on the owner of this property requesting that he gets the pigeon lofts cleaned up.

"If access is not possible, we will move to prosecute the owner for non-compliance."