Eggs could be smothered with oil to cull noisy herring gulls which are plaguing Rustington residents.

More than 180 people packed into a hall yesterday to find a way to get rid of the gulls which rip open rubbish sacks and dive-bomb passers-by.

One proposal being seriously considered is smothering the birds' eggs with paraffin oil. This blocks the pores so embryos inside cannot develop.

The parent gulls would then sit on the eggs indefinitely, unaware they were not going to hatch.

The method is intended to control the gull population and stop the aggressive behaviour of birds protecting their young.

The Rev Patrice Sessions, chairwoman of the Church Gardens Residents' Association, who called the meeting, said: "One man wanted the birds shot, which went down like a lead balloon, but people were quite receptive to the idea of oiling the eggs.

"We are seriously considering doing this. At least then they won't hatch at all."

However, before the egg-oiling is approved, trapdoors would have to be made in the roofs of 210 affected houses to get to the nests.

The properties, which were built in the Sixties, have flat roofs and make ideal nesting sites.

The egg-oiling method was proposed at the meeting at the Woodlands Centre by Guy Merchant, an expert on combating nuisance birds without culling them.

He said: "It is not cruel to oil the eggs. It is the classic way favoured by the Ministry of Agriculture. The gulls don't even realise their eggs have been interfered with and sit on them indefinitely for a month or two.

"It is the young birds who are the problem as the parents are so protective of them. So by stopping them hatching, it stops aggressive behaviour and reduces the size of the colony."

Residents have been trying to stop gull attacks and cut numbers by removing nests from the roofs themselves.

Mr Merchant said: "This is labour-intensive because as fast as you remove nests, gulls will rebuild them."

Other options discussed included putting down green felt on roofs because gulls will not nest on it.

Rev Sessions said: "The gulls manage to get into black bin bags left in the street and drop fast food like chicken legs on our roofs. It becomes a health and safety issue when you have scraps of food lying around. It attracts rats and foxes.

"The council should supply wheelie bins but we should also be educating the public about how to deal with the gulls."

The final decision on whether to start oiling eggs in March will be made at a committee meeting in December.