Success of dog fouling work is applauded by councillors

Cllr Jacky Pendleton said the success of the pilot scheme, which ends tomorrow, showed the need for another.

Middleton resident Cllr Pendleton (C, River) told Arun District Council’s environmental services and community development working group: “I believe this scheme has had a big impact.

“This is a high-profile issue with a lot of the electorate. So, once the pilot is over, we should all start thinking about what we do next.

“I know there is a financial issue but it is something that is at the heart of our electorate. I certainly spend half my time in terms of issues on this one.

“We have to think seriously about representing those peoples’ views and how we move this forward.”

The working group’s next meeting, on November 5, will be given a final report on the crackdown by council parks manager Oliver Handson and asked to make a decision about the scheme’s future.

Mr Handson told last Wednesday’s meeting the early stages of the pilot from its launch on June 3 had been a success.

The total of 79 piles of mess at various sites across central Bognor recorded in March had been cut to one in early August. A big reduction from 14 piles to two also occurred at the West Beach boardwalk in Climping.

The council used two environmental enforcement officers from Kingdom Security to work 80 hours a week at various times from 6.30am-7pm daily.

“Patrols were targeted at about 45 different open spaces where we had reason to believe there were issues following public concerns and from our information gathered by officers,” he said.

Three fixed penalty notices of £80 or £50 had been issued by mid-August, one in Aldwick and four in eastern areas, for failing to clear up after dogs. Two more notices were issued for failing to obey dog-ban/dogs-on-lead zones on Felpham seafront. All were paid. Ten verbal warnings were given. Some 40 u-18s were told about using litter bins.

Cllr Phil Hitchins (C, Aldwick W) said: “I’m very pleased with this. It shows something can be done about dog fouling. That’s very important.”

Cllr Paul English (C, Felpham E) said: “This has been a complete and utter success. The number of piles has definitely decreased quite dramatically in some places.”