Councillors hope a “dog stencilling” scheme in Stapeley will shame pet owners into cleaning up dog mess on their estate.
Dozens of residents on the Cronkinson development in Nantwich have complained at the amount of dog mess on streets, walkways, and green areas where youngsters play.
Now parish councillors want to crackdown on irresponsible dog owners, starting with a dog stencilling scheme later this month.
Members will go around with bright orange paint and highlight all the areas on the estate with dog mess.
Sandy Gwinn-Freemantle (pictured), chairman of Stapeley and District Parish Council, said: “It’s terrible in places, there is so much mess left behind.
“There are a lot youngsters and mums with toddlers, and dog mess gets on shoes, pushchairs, everywhere.
“Some dog owners take bags with them, pick up the dog mess, and then throw the bag into the hedge!
“It’s down to the human being, and there are few on this estate who just don’t care. We spend the money trying to make the estate nice and they do this.”
The parish council has spent £80 on orange and yellow paint which they will use to spray on dog mess on January 27.
They hope it will highlight to people where the mess is so they don’t step in it, but also hope it will trigger the conscience of owners who allow their dogs to foul on land without being cleared away.
“It has apparently worked before,” added Cllr Gwinn-Freemantle.
“We have some volunteers willing to give up their spare time to do this. The paint stays visible for about five days.”
(pic by ell brown)
It is all very well to suggest that the solution is for someone else (the Council or PCSOs) to catch irresponsible owners in the act of letting their dogs foul an area without collecting and disposing of the faeces – but in reality (as with fly-tipping or littering) it is almost impossible to achieve this successfully without an excessive input of time (and therefore, money) by the Police, Local Authority or Town Council. If the local community wants to put a stop to this extremely anti-social practice then residents should work together to stop it – get together, identify the culprits and/or photograph them in the act and report them to the Police.
Having said this, the ‘dog stencilling’ idea is a good initiative if only because it should help to focus attention on a serious problem, which is not confined to Stapeley (for example, the canal towpath is equally disgusting in places). According to the article, it’s only the start of a crackdown and I think we should welcome any efforts to do something about such a shameful activity.
There are fines of £1000 possible.
One or two of these, well publicised, might just do the trick.
Why is it in this country that we have so many laws, and yet seem unable to implement them?
If you want to shame the owners how about getting a PSCO to patrol the estate and when they see a dog owner walking their dog ask them if they are carrying any bags to clean up after their animal.
As a dog owner sick of seeing the mess others leave I’d be more than happy to oblige
£80 on spray paint to shame the owners. Surely the fact that these owners allow their dogs to foul in public areas demonstrates that the have no shame.
Why are the efforts of council focusing on ‘painting’ and not catching these irresponsible owners to punish them with the full extent of the law, Dogs (fouling of the land) act 1996.
Agree with Paul, spray the owners, can’t deny it when you’ve been Tango’d!!
So, basically they spend £80 on paint for someone to go spray paint dog poo?????
The world has officially gone mad.
Painting dog poo will ‘shame’ owners to pick it up? Am I missing something?
There are dog owners on this estate that let their dog foul the footpaths right outside the school – who in their right mind would think these people are capable of feeling shame?
How about we catch the dog owners and spray them? That would bring shame….
(I jest).
I will think of cllr freemantle when I cleaning paint as well as dog poo off my children’s shoes….
(And by the way, I have a dog – always clean up after her and don’t let her anywhere near the school when I know she hasn’t been)….
Poor show. Does it really help such a serious problem to be so supercilious? I think £80 is well spent. Think of the costs incurred by the NHS in trying to cure children who catch such awful disease from dog faeces.
Perhaps after cleaning the mess from your children’s shoes for the umpteenth time, you might appreciate the effort that is being made to try and resolve this problem in our area.
I jest..not.
This is a wind-up right? I did have to look up the word Supercilious – it’s not the first time someone has called me arrogant, I can’t help it, I’m just great…
But I guess you mean condescending, contemptuous, disdainful or patronising, bless you! (see what I did there)…
If you actually bothered to read the post you may find I am 100% in favour of doing something about it – but painting dog poo is absolutely ridiculous and will have zero effect.
As someone pointed out below – a PSCO stopping dog owners and asking if they have bags is a much better solution. Or better still catching someone in the act and fining them. That would have impact surely. It also wouldn’t cost as the Town already pays PSCO’s…