Bee-have or you can buzz off!

AN allotment owner has been stung with a prosecution threat after complaints that her insects were not bee-having themselves.

Sarah Bacon was dealt the abatement notice by Derby City Council over the four beehives she keeps at Merrill Way allotments in Shelton Lock.

It came after the allotment association complained to the council that the 64-year-old's insects were stinging people and causing a nuisance.

The document says Ms Bacon has to remove the hives if she does not alter her beekeeping methods to keep the buzzing critters under control. Failure to comply could result in prosecution.

But Ms Bacon, of Highgrove Drive, Chellaston, said she was adhering to beekeeping rules.

She said: "I have had the bees at the allotment for years now.

"When I first joined I was on the allotment committee and there were no complaints about them.

"Two years ago the committee changed and I was not on it. That was when the complaints started. I have been threatened with eviction." She also said that her hives are screened off and inspected weekly by Government inspectors from the National Bee Unit, run by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

But Derek Chadwick, secretary of the Merrill Way Allotment Association, said he believed the screens were not tall enough.

He said: "The barrier that she has at the moment is not enough. It only covers one side and the bees are getting out.

"They have stung several people. I have been stung once.

"The hives are in a bad position. It might be better if they were in a corner but they are near several lots."

A city council spokesman said the authority would monitor Ms Bacon's beehives with the help of the allotment association, to see if Ms Bacon had implemented satisfactory changes.

He said: "We are not insisting at this stage that she removes the hives altogether but we have asked that she keeps them according to the National Beekeepers' Association guidelines.

"If she fails to meet these requirements then the council can take action against her.

"The council is aware of the importance of bees as an essential part of our natural environment and is currently looking at how other authorities deal with bee hives in allotments to see if we can learn how best to manage them here in Derby.

"Ms Bacon can appeal against the abatement notice within 21 days."