Conservatives have called for greater priority to be given to pursuing dog owners who fail to clean up after their pets as figures revealed that just one resident was prosecuted for dog fouling in the whole of Brighton & Hove last year.
The information came to light in response to a question by Conservative Spokesman on the Environment, Transport & Sustainability Committee – Cllr. Graham Cox.
Cllr Cox said:
“Dog fouling is invariably one of the top 3 of issues that local residents in my ward contact me about and I’m sure that the same is true across much of the rest of the city. For this reason, the Council should be giving greater priority to pursuing the small minority of irresponsible owners who persist with their anti-social behaviour. I appreciate that it can be difficult to catch people in such a large area but all I got in response to my question was a long list of excuses for not doing anything. This is not what residents want to hear. I suggest that a campaign targeting the worst affected areas is launched as a matter of priority. There are an awful lot of people out there who could act as the Council’s ‘eyes and ears’ – park rangers, PCSOs, seafront officers, animal welfare officers, traffic wardens and even residents’ and Friends of Park groups. The only way we will get offenders to change their ways is by increasing the likelihood that they will get caught. At the moment, as the answer to my question reveals, they know that they will almost certainly get away with it.”
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