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| The lane behind Blackhall primary school. Sadly, one of the worst areas for dog fouling |
Durham County Council's Community Action Team (CAT) has been in the village for the past few weeks and they have identified dog fouling as a major issue. They have also told us that this area is one of the worst they've encountered for this particular problem.
Naturally, nobody wants our village to be associated with dog fouling and dirty streets so we think the time has come to take a more direct approach to tackle this problem. We know that a vast majority of dog owners in our village are responsible and they treat our public spaces with respect. However, there is a small minority who are determined to turn our streets and pavements into open sewers and, because there isn't always evidence available, they've been allowed to get away with it for far too long.
We will again approach the council and ask for CCTV cameras to be installed in specific locations where the problem is worst (and most people know where these areas are). At the same time we are prepared to take photographic evidence of individual incidents wherever and whenever we can. We will then forward that evidence to the wardens and urge them to take whatever action is necessary to help end this problem once and for all. Please feel free to do likewise, but only if it is safe to do so.
We live in hard times at the moment, and we do not wish to see dog owners being fined unnecessarily. However, we recognise that dog fouling on our streets and open spaces is a long-term and growing problem and we are determined to do everything we can to end it.
