THE man in charge of Swindon's rodent control says the town is bucking national trends.

While a report by industry experts the National Pest Technicians Association says rat and mice numbers are growing in Swindon and the rest of the south, the council says the number of rodent reports have remained close to stable.

The National Rodent Survey Report says Swindon and surrounding counties have suffered a 10 per cent rise in rats while mice numbers are up by a fifth. National Pest Technicians Association chairman and report author Barrie Sheard blamed the nationwide rise on warmer weather, recycling and flytipping.

Across the country rat numbers have risen by 39 per cent between 1998 and 2005.

Mr Sheard urged councils like Swindon to rethink their fortnightly wheelie bin collection plans and to stop charging for rodent baiting.

Mr Sheard said the association believed wheelie bins were a good move for cutting down rodent food supplies, but warned emptying them every other week meant overflowing rubbish that encouraged rodents.

"We don't want to be scaremongers but we want to warn everybody," Mr Sheard said.

"Not charging is good sense for a service that is a public health matter.

"Wheelie bins are a very good idea. But going over to a two-weekly rubbish collection is far too long."

Mr Sheard said mild weather meant the rats were still breeding in winter.

He said mice numbers were also up.

But Swindon Council's residential services manager Paul Simmonds, who is in charge of the borough's three-man pest control team, said the number of infestations found by the team are falling.

The team dealt with 735 rat problems last year, up by 13 on 2004-05 but down from 765 in 2003-04 and 868 in 2002-03.

Mr Simmonds said treatments cost £30 but were free for concession cardholders.

"We are not seeing an increase in rats and mice," he said.

"We take any reports of pests seriously.

"We are not seeing any worrying trends."

Mr Simmonds said wheelie bins would help cut rodent numbers but work would have to continue to convince residents not to leave large amounts of feed out for birds.

"We are trying to discourage people putting down crusts," Mr Simmonds said.

"We have a big pigeon problem in the town centre we are trying to solve."

Mr Simmonds said having three pest control officers in-house meant the council could respond faster to complaints.

He said residents should phone the council if they see rats or mice inside their houses.

A council spokesman said the town's wheelie bins would not overflow if residents recycled their rubbish thoroughly.