A DORCHESTER councillor says Dorchester's reputation could be tarnished by rubbish strewn about the town centre caused by seagulls targeting bin bags.

Town and district David Taylor was alerted by businesses in the Trinity Street area to gulls shredding open bin bags they have been given to put on on rubbish days.

He said residents were also concerned about the mess that was being made, with winds sometimes carrying the rubbish around the town centre and other areas popular with visitors.

Cllr Taylor said: "Local residents have been becoming increasingly concerned that the gulls are tearing apart the bags and they are strewing rubbish everywhere.

"The rubbish goes all over Trinity Street and down South Street as well as across to the parks.

He said the purple bags given to businesses to put their rubbish out in were not gull proof and clearly were not "fit for purpose".

Cllr Taylor added that he was concerned about the potential impact it could have on visitors to Dorchester if they find the streets of the town centre littered with rubbish.

He said: "I am gravely concerned as the reputation of the town is being damaged by the excess of litter around and it's not the fault of residents.

"It's tarnishing this historic and well visited county town."

Karyn Punchard, director of the Dorset Waste Partnership, said: "We are fully aware of the problems associated with gulls and other animal intrusion around Trinity Street.

"The purple sacks affected are our commercial waste bags – they aren’t designed to be gull-proof.

"We have instructed our collection crews to clean up any gull-related mess found during their rounds while we continue to investigate solutions to the issue, which may include offering gull-proof bags to commercial customers."