A DECISION to force a man to get rid of his 'noisy' pet cockerels after a complaint by his next-door neighbour has been upheld by Blackburn Magistrates.

The long-running case against David Innes, of Glencarron Close, Hoddlesden, was re-tried after he said he was not informed about the initial court date.

Registered nurse Barbara Moss took her complaint to Blackburn Council, who investigated the claim that a daily dawn chorus was disturbing her sleep.

The council decided to prosecute the retired lecturer for a second time for breaching a noise abatement notice, issued last December, which requires him to get rid of the birds or make sure they can not be heard during the night.

Andrew White, Blackburn Council's senior technical officer in noise prevention, told the court that he counted 72 crows on seven early morning visits to the address. During the last inspection on December 6, Mr White recorded calls ranging between 67 to 73 decibels, nearly twice the reading of a normal bird song. Mrs Moss said: "I have a clock close to my bed and kept a record of the times I was woken by the cockerels. I am not an unreasonable person and if they did not wake me or my daughter I did not note anything down."

Defence witness Sylvia Scotland of Glencarron Close spoke of her visit to residents on the estate to gauge opinion on the noise nuisance being created by the cockerels and said nobody made a complaint.

Representing himself, Mr Innes said: "I believe the council have gone overboard to bring a case based on a noise that has been in Hoddlesden for more than 100 years."

The depravation order against Mr Innes which applies to his two remaining bantam cockerels was upheld.

His fine was reduced from £400 to £200 and he was ordered to pay increased costs of £820.95.

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