“The herring gull has been almost as successful as humans at adapting to the urban environment, they see buildings as artificial cliffs and an ideal place to breed. They are not afraid of people and will travel hundreds of miles from the nest to forage.

“We will see if the artificial egg has any impact, and if it does then we can use it more widely and advise businesses to take their own action.”

The methods ruled out included:

* Shooting: Not an option in a city environment

* Narcotics: Making large birds drowsy in flight is dangerous

* Sound boxes to mimic bird distress calls: Where used they have proved more distressing to residents than gulls

* Birds of prey: In urban areas gulls will attack larger birds in a ‘mob fashion’

* Artificial bird of prey or scarecrow: Gulls quickly cotton on

* Removing nests: They build new ones pretty quickly

* Lasers: Cannot be used over a wide area as it has a ‘light show effect’.

The seagull problem in urban areas has been growing. Areas hit recently include Cheltenham, Bristol and Gloucester, and solutions put forward have included making rooftops on new-build homes ‘seagull proof’, fining people who feed them, and using birds of prey to drive them off – a plan which was abandoned in Dumfries, Scotland, after the number of breeding pairs of Falcons soared, reaching 370.

The artificial egg trial is expected to be approved by councillors tomorrow.