Dismay as bee colony is destroyed

He said bees are an endangered species and stressed that this colony would not have stung anyone.

Now the council has said that it wants to work more closely with beekeepers in the future.

Beekeeper Geoffrey Hilder, of the Martletts, Rustington was so incensed that he sent an official letter of complaint to the council last week, asking for an explanation.

He said: "Like other beekeepers in the area, I am on a list with Arun District Council to go out to any bee swarms and sightings to help and advise.

"When I was contacted and told about the action taken, I was upset and very angry about what had happened."

Mr Hilder said: "The facts are that honey bees when in a swarming mood are quite harmless and are most unlikely to sting. They mull around until they settle with one Queen and will move on again later. Also in the two or more hours the bees were there no-one was stung, so why was this hasty action taken?

"I made contact with the pest control officer, who I then found out had used a pesticide spray to destroy them."

He stressed that the honeybee needed to be protected, not destroyed, because it had become an endangered species.

Mr Hilder has been keeping bees for more than 20 years and said: "There was no danger to the public.

A spokeswoman for Arun District Council said: "It is exceptional and always regrettable for Arun District Council to have to take this course of action and it is only ever done in situations where there is a significant risk to public safety.

"One of our most senior pest control officers, with 22 years' experience, was called to Banjo Road in Littlehampton at around 9.30am on Tuesday (June 2) morning where the swarm was discovered hanging in a hedge. This swarm was close to a public seating area, the beach and two recently installed barbecue units.

"Our officer sealed off the area and urgently tried to contact our local bee keepers, in line with national policy, to see if any of them were prepared to take the swarm away.

"Unfortunately, nobody was contactable. At 12.30pm as the temperatures were approaching the heat of the day and the area around the swarm was getting busier with the arrival of six coaches of visitors mainly made up of children and teachers, it was decided that the risk to public safety was just too great to wait any longer.

"We very much regret what had to happen and stress it is exceptional for this course of action to ever be taken.

"We have spoken with Mr Hilder and taken on board his comments, many of which we agree with.

"We greatly appreciate the role of bee keepers and realise that they do what they do in their spare time and want to work more closely with them in the future."