A low cost vermin killing service may be axed as South Lakeland District Council carries out a financial review of its pest control services.

The council presently offers a heavily subsidised pest control service, charging households suffering from rat or mice infestations just £13.

But SLDC's management team has recommended that pest control services be slashed in a funds reallocation report. In the first ten months of 2004 to 2005, SLDC pest control officers were called out to deal with 700 rat and mice problems in South Lakeland.

Legally, the council is obliged to deal with noise and air pollution and only has to respond to queries about vermin infestations.

Environmental protection manager Mark Richardson said that, according to the proposals, SLDC was considering ending the subsidised pest control service.

Instead, householders will have to foot the full cost of a visit of a private pest control specialist or pay £50 plus tax for Lancaster City Council pest control officers to visit their homes.

The council would still continue its contract services to businesses and schools, he said, which were provided at a "fairly low cost," in comparison to competitors.

Mr Richardson criticised the recommendations, saying that they were not something he personally "would welcome."

He added: "If you see a rat in the garden and you know that the cost to get rid of it is £13 then you will call the council. But if the cost is £80 then you are going to say that the rat is coming from next door.

"You either have people ignoring the problem, paying to have it treated or treating it themselves and causing more problems by putting the poison out wrongly."

Brown rats usually live in the sewer systems and carry many diseases including Weil's Disease, salmonella and hepatitis. They are also able to gnaw through wood, glass and concrete. House mice are known for their ability to chew through cables, posing a risk of fires, breed quickly and spread contamination through their urine.

If the council stops providing vermin control to homes, people could be hit with costs varying from £30 to £80 from local pest control firms.

A national company told the Gazette it would charge around £130 for a three-stage treatment on a three bedroom house.

Ulverston-based pest controller Stuart Bennett said that over the past decade, the number of rodent infestations had "gone up a lot" mainly because of the amount of food left around as waste.

"You shouldn't have to pay for domestic vermin control, you pay enough in council tax for things like that," he said.

The report's recommendations will be discussed at a full council meeting on March 1.