Oldham Council reports that it has been stepping up its enforcement activity against dog fouling.
The local authority’s Environmental Action Unit has been carrying out additional work – funded by the two District Partnerships in Royton, Shaw and Crompton, and Chadderton – for the past six weeks.
This has seen officers deployed on additional plain clothes patrols outside normal working hours with a zero tolerance stance on owners leaving their dog’s faeces on the Borough’s streets and parks.
Owners caught not picking up after their pets are being issued with Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) which order offenders to pay an £80 fine – reduced to £50 if paid within ten days – or face prosecution.
To date a total of 39 FPNs have been issued during the crackdown, compared with a total of five in the whole of the previous year.
Councillor Rod Blyth, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Public Protection, said: “This is difficult enforcement work but we are committed to tackling this problem and grateful to the District Partnerships for the funding.”
“This work can be very time consuming and it is often difficult to catch offenders because they allow their dogs to do this at night, or when there are usually not many people around.
“It is important to note that our officers have witnessed a large number of people obeying the law and cleaning up after their dogs.
"However, there remains a small minority of owners behaving irresponsibly and the problem is that even just one dog repeatedly fouling each day will create a cumulative problem that blights the local community and is dangerous to public health.
“Our message is simple: Being a responsible dog owner means picking up after your pet, and you can bin your dog’s mess in any general litter bin.”
Oldham is also one of 85 English Councils currently taking part in a four-week Keep Britain Tidy anti-dog fouling initiative.
