One fine for dog fouling in five years
Only one fine has been issued for dog fouling in Stratford District in the last five years despite communities continuing to suffer from the actions of irresponsible dog owners.
The statistics, released under a freedom of information request, reveal that there is only record of one fixed penalty notice (FPN) being issued since 2012, which came in Stockton last year.
Stratford District Council are currently in the process of recruiting a new dog warden, following the departure of the previous warden last year.
The authority says that although the warden’s duties will remain broadly the same, the council’s priorities have altered to focus on issues that are a priority to communities such as dog fouling and nuisance dogs.
This shift in focus is possible because the council no longer has responsibility to deal with animal re-homing and receives fewer reports of stray dogs.
Although issuing fines is difficult, with wardens required to catch irresponsible owners in the act, some believe the council should be doing more to stamp out the problem.
Stratford resident Brigg Ford said: “I occasionally take my five year old boy to the park off Orrian Close / Joseph Way in Stratford - it’s a great park but is spoilt by dog owners letting their pets run around and not cleaning up after them.
“It’s really disgusting and getting worse. The sign at the entrance says ‘no dogs’ but people ignore it.
“You see warning notices suggesting offenders face £1000 fines for dog fouling but the FOI shows this is an empty threat and is simply not being followed through by the council.
“Just one fine in 5 years, and that one wasn’t even in the town. It also shows they don’t proactively pursue inconsiderate dog owners, through wardens or cameras, or do any cleaning up in parks. It’s a serious health hazard.”
The issue of dog fouling has been a growing problem across the district for some time with some communities organising their own campaigns to highlight the issue.
One such place is Shipston where residents have previously taken to the streets spraying florescent paint on dog mess and putting up posters reminding dog owners to clean up.
Cllr Shelagh Saunders from Shipston Town Council, who has been involved in the town’s dog fouling campaign, said: “That number of fixed penalty notices is disappointingly low, but perhaps not surprising as you actually have to catch people as they are committing the offence. Also if there are very few staff covering such a large area that will also make it hard.
“In Shipston there are repeat offenders and certain hotspots for it, I wouldn’t say it is getting worse, but sadly it appears to be a problem that is probably never going to go away.”
