‘Let traffic wardens get grip on mess’

Coun Malcolm Boatman will call on East Riding Council next week to take action in the face of increasing complaints about dog mess.

Complaints about dog fouling have risen from 429 in 2011 to 509 last year.

A recent week of action saw patrols sent to dog mess “hotspots” in Beverley, Bridlington, Goole, Withernsea and the Anlaby, Cottingham and Hessle areas of Hull.

But Coun Boatman discovered that while traffic wardens issue around around 1,000 tickets a month for parking matters, the council’s three dog wardens issued just two tickets for dog fouling in a year.

He is calling on the council to “pursue a similar zero tolerance regime towards dog fouling as we do towards car parking” and allow traffic wardens to issue the £75 fixed penalty notices for owners who fail to clear up after their pets.

Coun Boatman said: “It’s like anything you hit people in the pockets and there’s the deterrent not to do it. There’s nothing worse than treading in dog mess and then walking in your house and there are health risks for children and it’s an eye sore.

“I just think if they get a £75 fine, people might think twice and pick it up.”

In 2010 the UK dog population was estimated to be 8m, with dogs producing around 1,000 tonnes of excrement each day. In a recent survey of over 10,000 sites dog fouling was present on seven per cent of sites.

It found some dog owners still fail to clean up after their dogs and the highest level of dog fouling can be found in areas where people actually live.

His motion will be presented to a meeting of East Riding Council on April 3.