A Moretonhampsted man has been awarded £1,250 compensation by the local government ombudsman to recompense him for Teignbridge Council's failure to carry out an abatement notice promptly.
Danny Clayton, of Lime Street, said: 'I want the problem solved, not the money,' writes Helen Davis. The problem is cats. Most households own at least one, but it is the feral cats that residents detest. In August 2003, Mr Clayton complained to Teignbridge about feral cats fed by his neighbour, Eunice Flay. He said the smell of the cats and of Miss Flay's property was 'detrimental to health and a nuisance'. The council served an abatement notice on Miss Flay in December 2003. She was told that the odours caused by the cats were substantially interfering with the reasonable use and enjoyment of neighbouring properties, and were causing a statutory nuisance. But nothing was done until February 2005. 'Eunice's procrastination won the day,' said Mr Clayton, whose house is for sale for £300,000. Council officials found it difficult to contact Miss Flay. Plans to clear her back yard and remove some of the cats came to nothing. In February 2005, council officials visited Miss Flay's house, 10 cats were removed in May and more in June. By August that year, Teignbridge considered the problem to be solved as it could not detect any smell in neighbouring gardens. Richard Cox, environmental control manager for Teignbridge, said: 'Working with Miss Flay, we removed 27 cats from the area in the last six months. There were a lot of feral cats in the area but the numbers are now down.' Sue Owens, of Dolphin House, has RSPCA cat traps and poison in her attic to deter the cats. 'I had no option,' she said. 'Cats' urine was dripping through the ceiling in my nine-year-old daughter's bedroom.' Neighbours, a couple in their 80s, said the situation was 'too much' for them to cope with. The cats, they said, got into their house through the inter-connected attics and down the chimneys. In 2002 cats came into their loft to have kittens. The RSPCA and the Cats Protection League helped to remove the cats in 2002 and 2003, but when they visited before and after Christmas 2005 they were unable to remove the bodies of 'at least two dead cats' that were in the attic. Another neighbour, who says she is allergic to cats, protects her property by soaking the garden boundaries in Jeyes fluid. Parish council clerk Robin Peardon said: 'Eunice originally had more cats than was wise. Now there is a breeding colony.' Chairman John Laflin said: 'Under new rules the parish council could create a bylaw about cats, but you can't enforce any laws if no one is responsible for the cats.' 'There's no easy answer,' said Mr Laflin. 'Killing the cats is the only way of resolving the problem.' Miss Flay, in her 70s, denies that the cats are feral, as she can pick them up and loves them dearly. She blames the fuss on 'grockles' or incomers.