New campaign urges dog owners to Clean It Up
Birmingham City Council is launching a new tactic in the fight against dog fouling this week, to encourage dog owners to take more responsibility for their pets.
The high visibility tactic will see messages stencilled in luminous paint onto paths in persistent dog fouling hotspots telling owners to Clean It Up and advising that they can be fined up to £1,000 for failing to clean up after their dogs.
Dog fouling is an issue frequently raised by local residents of all ages, directly to Birmingham City Council and through community meetings, such as Neighbourhood Tasking. As well as causing a nuisance and effecting the appearance and use of local parks and neighbourhoods, there are also risks presented to children and young people in the form of diseases such as Toxocariasis.
In response to these issues, through the District Neighbourhood Tasking Groups, which are multi-agency and community involved partnership groups, a number of tactics have been identified to try and better tackle the issue, particularly in persistent hotspots.
These focus on encouraging dog owners and communities to take more responsibility for the issue, providing the means to help dog owners dispose of dog mess, as well as taking enforcement action where needed. New Dog Control Orders, which were launched in Birmingham from 1 March 2014 have also increased the minimum fine for dog fouling to £80.
Where reports of dog fouling are received by the Birmingham City Council Dog Warden Team, sites will be visited and assessed to see what tactics and options might be most suitable. The use of the stencil will be used initially on a trial basis and provide a high visibility, luminous Clean It Up message directly onto paths in the most persistent dog fouling hotspots. Its development and use follows successful neighbourhood trials across Birmingham, as well as successful implementation in neighbouring Local Authorities.
The Clean It Up message will last for 5-6 weeks at a time and during this time dog owners will be encouraged to change their behaviour and the incidence of dog fouling should decrease. This tactic is also complemented by a range of other initiatives, which could include the provision of bins or stickers advising dog owners that they can use standard litter bins to dispose of dog mess. It also includes “dog-action days” with micro-chipping events, as well as multi-agency patrols and enforcement activity to issue fines to dog owners.
Jenny Millward, Head of Environmental Health (South), said 'We welcome this new initiative into tackling the very real problems created within our local environments by dog fouling and hope that this will prompt those irresponsible dog owners to clear up after their dogs.'
If the initial trial of the stencilled messages is successful in Birmingham South it will be considered for roll-out across the rest of the city.
To report concerns about dog fouling or any other concerns about dogs, visit www.birmingham.gov.uk/straydogs or call 0121 303 6007. You can follow Community Safety activity for Birmingham South via Twitter: @SouBhamComSafe; Web: www.bhamsouthcommunitysafety.co.uk.
The campaign was launched at Daisy Farm Park in Billesley.
A picture from the launch is available on the Birminghamnewsroom flickr feed.
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Notes to Editors:
1. Please contact Trudi Maybury, Birmingham Community Safety Partnership Communications Manager on 0121 464 6210 or [email protected]
2. Birmingham Community Safety Partnership is a joint partnership between Birmingham City Council, West Midlands Police, West Midlands Fire Service and other agencies that work together to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour that affects our communities.
My family and I have lived on Kings Rd, Kings Heath for 6 years and have never seen any kind of enforcement against irresponsible dog owners, despite the huge amount of dog mess all along the road.
I complained, without reply to Birmingham City Council 2 years ago about the mess and have tried and failed to gather video evidence as it happens late in the evening.
With two young children, we have to dodge a minefield of dog mess on each school run, which is utterly unacceptable and disgusting, I hope that enforcement happens in my area soon.