North Lanarkshire Council has suspended charging for services to control rats and mice for one year.
The council introduced a charge, which is set at £49.15, for pest control measures as part of a previous budget, however, during the pandemic rodent sightings have increased significantly.
During the full council meeting last week, councillors discussed the proposed suspension of charges,
Council leader Jim Logue said the 42% increase in rat enquiries – up to 2,132 in 2020/21 – was not unique to North Lanarkshire and many other authorities had experienced similar problems during the pandemic because of several key factors.
SNP group leader Jordan Linden called on the council to acknowledge the rodent problems only came to light due to monitoring introduced via an SNP motion and that it had been exacerbated by changes in policy such as changes to bin uplifts and reductions grass cutting and land maintenance.
The motion, supporting the suspension of charges until June 30, 2022, was carried with 42 votes to 28.