A ROW has broken out over whether a father is allowed to keep the ducks he bought for his two-year-old son on his allotment.

Derek Berryman, 44, said he bought the duck eggs for his son Ollie so he could watch them hatch, grow and lay their own eggs.

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However, he was told by the chairman of Cherry Tree Allotment Keith Murray that he does not yet have permission to keep them.

Mr Berryman, who said he has kept chickens on the allotment, said: “There is an area of the allotment where you can keep chickens. We already had some chickens and then we got half a dozen ducks.

“There is no rule against keeping ducks. There is an unwritten law that says you can keep fowl so they could feed people. If you can keep chickens I do not know why you would not be able to keep ducks. They come under the rule of fowl.

“We have had them for five months and hatched them from chicks. We got them so my son could collect eggs and it encourages him to eat things like that. When we kept a cockerel we were told to get rid of that and I did, I am not an unreasonable person. I don’t understand why they are trying to get rid of the ducks.”

Mr Murray said the council has a tenancy agreement which states chickens, hens and rabbits can be kept, but not ducks.

He said: “The council can overwrite that, but it is up to them and they have not made a decision yet.

“Mr Berryman has not formally asked the committee for permission and if he did we would refer him to the council.

“At the moment they are there without permission and what the committee has agreed is we will give him guidance on their welfare, which did not imply he could keep the ducks, and the council will make the decision.

“Strictly speaking he should not have brought them on before asking the committee for guidance.”

Cllr Jim Smith, who took up the case on behalf of Mr Berryman, said: “The council will judge each case on its own merit.

“There are several sets of animals on the site.

“As far as we are concerned the ducks can stay. We take a common sense approach when deciding these things and the ducks are not doing any harm.”