Change planned to tackle dog fouling

Greater powers could be given to Shropshire’s dog wardens after plans were unveiled to overhaul the way the problem of stray dogs is tackled.

It comes after it was revealed that only two fixed penalty fines had been issued for dog fouling in the entire county since August 2007.

A Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council watchdog is now recommending tougher action is taken to deal with stray dogs and the amount of dog fouling in the area.

Under by-laws a maximum fixed penalty notice of £80 can be issued to someone who is caught not picking up waste left by their dog.

This fine is reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days but a fine of up to £1,000 can be imposed if the owner fails to pay the penalty notice.

But members of the council’s scrutiny committee have raised concerns that not enough is being done to clamp down on offenders.

Councillors will be asked next week to back the recommendations of the committee for further action to be taken.They are also being called on to write to the assistant director of environmental maintenance at Shropshire Council to request the matter be “actively pursued” by the new unitary council.

A report to Monday’s cabinet meeting says: “Of concern to members was that only two fixed penalties had been issued in Shropshire since August 2007 and requested further work be undertaken to increase the number of patrols and issuing of fixed penalty notices to combat the problem.

“Members expressed frustration in the difficulty of catching culprits even when there was local knowledge of the times and places of repeat offences and questioned the effectiveness of the accreditation scheme for council employees.”

Carol Foster, licensing manager for SABC, said a proactive approach towards tackling the problem was required with further use of officers to issue fixed penalty notices for offences including the failure to comply with dog control orders.