PROBLEM geese could be made to shoo after councillors suggested ways of ridding them from a town's park.

Flocks of Canada geese are continually attracted to Lowndes Park in Chesham but members of the town council reckon it's time they flew away permanently.

Cllr Chris Spruytenburg said the geese had caused a build-up in silt at the bottom of the lake in the park, which has left the council with a "considerable bill" and doing the dredging work "can't be put off much longer".

He added the park was at risk of losing its Green Flag award status - given to public areas with high environmental standards - because of the amount of faeces and other mess being left behind by the geese.

Installing bird scarers that emit a loud bang to frighten the animals was suggested as a way of controlling the population at a meeting of Chesham Town Council yesterday.

Cllr Spruytenburg said information boards urging members of the public not to feed the birds should also be put up.

He said: "Feeding them bread harms their digestive system and causes an even greater amount of poo to be dropped on the path.

"It's something that I notice every time I drive past Lowndes Park. It's a source of constant irritation and once again we are considering what we should do with our unwelcome guests."

Putting up new hedges - which would discourage them from landing on the water as they wouldn't be able to see potential predators as easily - was also suggested as a longer term method of controlling the numbers.

Cllr Alison Pirouet asked: "Can we make sure the hedge isn't made of something they like and they'll strip it bare?", to which Cllr Spruytenburg replied with tongue in cheek: "We can make it poisonous so they actually die."

Cllr Alan Bacon said: "If we are going to do anything then I would have thought trying a hedge is probably the least unattractive and not too expensive.

"Some time ago I Googled 'problems with Canada geese' - it's not a problem unique to Chesham, it seems very widespread. As far as I can see nobody's really discovered the answer."

Councillors agreed to look further into the suggested methods of controlling the numbers.