NOISY cockerels who are kept 'legally' will not be kicked out from their allotment home after residents complained about their racket.

Kendal Town Council has maintained its stance that cockerels are allowed on the town’s Coley Barn Allotments in ‘exceptional circumstances’ after it received complaints in November last year about the ‘noise nuisance’ caused by the birds.

According to council documents from an allotments committee meeting on July 18, residents found the cockerels’ cacophony ‘intolerable’ and had reported it to the Environment Protection department of South Lakeland District Council.

An officer from the department had confirmed that the current noise caused by the cockerels was ‘above the acceptable level’.

As landowners Kendal Town Council was obliged to resolve the issue or face fines and legal costs.

Three options were considered by the committee: to not permit cockerels on any allotments, to allow cockerels on any allotments, or to allow cockerels in exceptional circumstances.

After a ‘lengthy discussion’ committee members opted for option three, to allow cockerels in exceptional circumstances, with the plot holder having to provide evidence as to the reasons for keeping a cockerel and will be subject to a trial period with restrictions in place.

The committee said the situation would have to be closely monitored and the views of the surrounding residential area sought.

It was also raised that council officers had “not always been treated in an appropriate manner” when trying to deal with the issue, with members suggesting that where tenants were abusive towards staff then their tenancies should be terminated with immediate effect.

And, according to the committee, it had recently emerged that cockerels were being kept on the site without permission.

Members said that if option three was to be pursued then those “keeping birds illegally” should be given the opportunity to remove their birds within an “appropriate timescale” and, if this did not happen, then their tenancy should be terminated.

While those allowed to keep cockerels would need to be reminded about acceptable noise levels and that, if they continued to cause a nuisance, then their tenancies too would have to be terminated.

Read more: Feathers fly in Kendal cockerels row

According to the council, it is the first complaint the council has received about the birds since many had to be evicted from the allotments in 2015 following similar noise complaints.

It was at that time the allotments committee first agreed that cockerels would be permitted in ‘exceptional circumstances’.

Two tenants had been granted approval because they kept rare breed birds who were used for breeding to ensure the survival of the breed’s bloodline.