THE story of a Barry boy with autism who was forced to give up his beloved pet chickens following a noise complaint continues.

John Montgomery lives with his parents in Ffordd Cwm Cidi in the town.

He has kept chickens at his home for more than ten years - since he was in primary school.

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The chickens are bantams - a small breed, which help keep slugs under control in John's garden.

However, following a fox attack, the Vale of Glamorgan Council has acted upon a complaint from a neighbour about the noise - and told the family they must remove the animals within a week.

John's father, Rupert, has now got back in touch with the Barry and District News to offer an update on the situation.

He says that attempts to rehome the chickens at a nearby farm park haven't gone to plan.

"The last time I was in touch I was optimistic a solution had been found," Mr Montgomery said.

"I had approached Howard Fairfax, the owner of Warren Mill Farm Park in Pendoylan who had offered to rehouse John’s bantams.

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"I was very grateful for this offer and the plan was to take the birds there this  weekend."

Mr Montgomery said he hoped this solution would "address the threat  delivered  by  council officials that the birds had to be removed within one week". 

"They actually had no issue with the health of the birds, which have thrived in John’s care," he explained.

However, Mr Montgomery went on to say that John "wasn’t at all happy that the chickens had to go".

"Another feature of his autism is an unwillingness co-operate at times when stressed and he was very reluctant to say goodbye to his hens," he said.

It transpired that the birds were equally unwilling to leave John, and in the end only one was caught on the day of the proposed move.

"I only took a single bantam and John to Warren Mill on Saturday to hand them over to Mr Fairfax," Mr Montgomery said.

"The upshot is that he now still has the remaining birds and, to make matters worse, his autism has become even more profound than before.

"In fact, even getting him to school this term has been a real challenge.

"I accept the officials were oblivious to the consequences of their actions, I’ve already commented that surely they had something more important to do with their time than investigating some 'clucking' chickens."

Mr Montgomery also paid tribute to the people who had read about John's situation and offered their support.

"I saw that media coverage in your paper and the overwhelming support for John expressed," he said.

"I would like to thank those people who expressed such sentiments and it is encouraging to see I'm not alone in this.

"Unfortunately, the story doesn’t have the happy ending I had hoped for and I am expecting another visitation from council officials any day now."