Denbighshire’s Community Safety Partnership is stepping up patrols in a concerted crackdown on dog fouling and littering offences in the county.
Enforcement officers will be patrolling the streets of Rhyl on 7 October and will be ready to issue fixed penalty notices to people who litter or fail to clean up after their dogs. CCTV operators will also be on the look out across the town as well.
Further enforcement operations will be carried out at various locations throughout Denbighshire in the coming weeks.
So far, three operations have been carried out, stepping up patrols in hot spot areas.
Denbighshire County council receives numerous complaints regarding dog fouling every day and dog fouling and littering were noted as some of the top causes for concern among residents who took part in a recent resident’s survey.
Dog faeces can contain a parasitic worm which causes an illness called Toxocariasis in humans. Research shows through random soil sampling that the majority of the parks in the UK are contaminated with toxocara eggs and that a single dog mess contains approximately one million microscopic eggs.
Failing to pick up immediately after a dog is an offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005.
Offenders can be issued with a £75 Fixed Penalty Notice and non-payment may be referred to the council’s legal team for consideration of a prosecution. If found guilty, the maximum fine is £1,000. Those that bag the mess but don’t bin it (i.e. they dispose of bagged faeces in a hedge or tree) can face a fine of up to £2,500 in court for the offence of littering.
Cabinet Lead Member for Environment, Councillor Sharon Frobisher, said: “We continually get complaints from people about environmental crime such as littering or dog fouling and we will continue these operations until people get the message that environmental crime is unacceptable.”
