A LOCAL authority which receives an average of two complaints every day over dog fouling has pledged to clean up its streets, parks and other public spaces through a multi-pronged campaign.

Darlington Borough Council’s community safety lead, Councillor Jonathan Dulston said historically enforcement action over dog fouling had been insufficient, and “a much tougher stance” was being launched towards a hardcore of dog owners who don’t pick up after their animals.

He was speaking after the Conservative-run authority’s cabinet approved a Public Spaces Protection Order enabling officers to issue fines for failure to remove dog faeces, not keeping dogs on leads in specified areas or when directed to by an officer, letting dogs stray onto prohibited areas and not keeping dogs on leads in East, North and West cemeteries.

The meeting had seen Labour councillor Nick Wallis “welcome the council’s U-turn on its proposal to set an arbitrary limit on the number of dogs” which people could walk and the move to allow dogs on leads in the town’s cemeteries.

He said the ban penalised the vast majority of dog owners who respect the need to keep dogs on a lead in cemeteries, and many residents would be comforted to have their pet with them when visiting the graves of loved ones.

Cllr Wallis added: “As councillors we know that residents hate our pavements being blighted by dog faeces, and the 730 requests for it to be cleared up last year is just a fraction of the amount of fouling out there.” He said in recent years an average of just five people annually had been fined over dog fouling.

Cllr Wallis pressed Cllr Dulston on whether the number of fines being issued to people who allow their dogs to foul was adequate and if the council’s enforcement team had sufficient resources to provide a real deterrent. He also questioned whether the number of dog bins in Darlington were sufficient to meet dog owners’ needs and if they were emptied frequently enough.

Cllr Wallis also questioned which results would be used to measure success in the fight against dog fouling in Darlington.

Cllr Dulston said historically enforcement action over dog fouling had been insufficient, adding the previous Labour administration had left action to tackle it on its to do list. He said “a much tougher stance” was being launched towards a hardcore of dog owners who don’t pick up after their animals as the council received “a vast amount of complaints”.

Cllr Dulston said officers had already started issuing more fines to people ignoring the 700 dog bins across the borough, and appealed for people to report persistent dog fouling issues. In addition, he said the authority had established good links with the dog walking community during a public consultation exercise, and they would work together to educate dog owners. Cllr Dulston said the council had not made a U-turn over the number of dogs which could be walked at once as it had only been a proposal. He added: “We have got the resources and the people to do the job, we just need to be getting into the communities. We will see cleaner areas and people will start to see a difference.”