Overview
- A resident recently told the Sandringham parish council that gardens across about 300 rental properties on the royal estate are suffering from rats, mice and mole damage.
- Sandringham estate manager Rob Timmins told the meeting that responsibility for pest control lies with the occupier rather than the property owner.
- Tenants remain banned from keeping cats under a rule introduced during Queen Elizabeth II's reign, a restriction residents say reduces natural defences against rodents and limits options for control.
- Earlier this year Marsh Farm, the property now occupied by Prince Andrew, had a notable mole invasion and reporters saw a Command Pest Control van leaving the farm, reflecting on-the-ground responses to the problem.
- The issue sits against wider scrutiny of the estate's wildlife management — including a 2023 Guardian dossier on past alleged misuse of poisons — and highlights tensions between protecting wildlife and solving a community pest problem that could prompt calls for clearer estate-wide action.