Plea for more action to tackle dog fouling in Wharfedale (From Wharfedale Observer)

Plea for more action to tackle dog fouling in Wharfedale

10:00am Tuesday 2nd October 2012 in Local news

More needs to be done to clamp down on irresponsible dog owners who allow their animals to foul footpaths and parks, according to an Adel and Wharfedale councillor.

Conservative Barry Anderson is concerned that Leeds City Council is still not doing enough in the fight against dog fouling. His comments come at a time when new legislation has seen fixed penalty notices for dogs not on leads increasing from none in 2010/2011, to 78 in 2011/12. In the same period, total fixed penalty notices issued for dog fouling dropped from 56 to 39.

Coun Anderson said: “I welcome the Council’s efforts to clamp down on irresponsible dog owners. I do, however, feel that more can be done to target the regular offenders who allow their dogs to foul our footpaths and parklands. “The majority of dog walking takes place early morning, evening, and weekends, and officers need to target these core times. Enforcement staff are contracted to flexible working, weekdays, 7am to 7pm, but this flexibility needs to be extended further.”