CONTRACTORS who will install solar panels on the roof of a Weymouth school will be told that they will need to protect nesting seagulls, if they are using the roof.

Concerns about the birds were raised by a neighbour after the school applied to add the panels to its roof.

In good conditions the panels proposed for the Wyvern School off the Dorchester Road, are expected to create 100kW of power, reducing the energy bills for the Wey Valley campus site.

Dorset Council has decided that the panels can be fitted without the need for planning consent – using what is known as the Prior Approval route. Weymouth Town Council had supported the application. Other solar panels are already in place at the school campus.

One immediate neighbour wrote to Dorset Council to say that seagulls regularly nest on the roof – asking if they were to be removed.

A planning officer said despite the claim there is no evidence of the birds nesting there, but says the contractor due to carry out the work will be warned that if nesting birds are found any active nests will have to be protected until the young have fledged.