A farmer from Cowley, near Cheltenham, has admitted failing to comply with restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of bird flu – and been handed a bill totalling £1,840.

Nigel Jackson, aged 77, of North Park Farm, appeared at Cheltenham Magistrates' Court on 29 April 2024 charged with failing to comply with bird flu restrictions and the appropriate disposal of sheep carcasses.

He was fined £200 for flouting an enforcement notice and received a further fine of £400 for failing to legally dispose of dead sheep during December 2022. Jackson was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £240 and £1,000 towards the prosecution.

The court heard how disease control measures designed to stop the spread of avian influenza were put in place in England from November 7 2022, making it a legal requirement for keepers of domestic poultry to isolate their birds to prevent them from coming into contact with wild birds and mammals.

Officers from Gloucestershire County Council's trading standards team engaged with Jackson on a number of occasions between late November 2022 and early January 2023, encouraging him to house his chickens to prevent the spread of the virus.

He was eventually served with an enforcement notice on January 5 following his failure to comply with the requests.

Officers subsequently returned to North Park Farm on January 9 and 13 and found he was in breach of the enforcement notice.

Jason Poole, acting head of trading standards at Gloucestershire County Council, said: "We will work with our partners at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) to rigorously enforce any breaches of the restrictions to protect Gloucestershire from the effects of not complying."

He added: "The failure to dispose of animal carcasses also poses a disease risk and action will be taken where breaches of the legislation are found.

"In this case, we had to take legal proceedings as the advice we issued to comply with the restrictions in place was not followed."

In April this year, containment measures for poultry were relaxed when the risk level was de-escalated.