RATS which have infested Arrow Valley Park could be sent packing under a new scheme.
The borough council is to ask visitors to stop feeding bread to the birds and use seed instead.
The move comes after officers closed the bird-feeding platform last year following complaints.
But the rats have now set up home in the children’s play area because people are leaving crusts of bread.
As rats are less likely to eat seeds, it is hoped they will be put off from settling and reproducing.
To encourage people to use bird seed, park officer Martin Lewis will be handing out free bags of seed to visitors on May 28 and 29 between 11am and 1pm.
He said: “We do have to accept that the park, with its lake, provides the perfect natural habitat for rats but we can discourage them from overpopulating areas by not leaving scraps of food on the ground.
“We do bait for the rats, but they will still choose to eat bread over that.”
