We asked the council's Clean & Green team to clear the worst affected areas and we also contacted the Neighbourhood Wardens to ask them to give the village more attention in terms of patrolling the most reported locations at peak times.
At the same time we approached Hesleden Primary School to ask if the children there would be interested in taking part in a competition to design a poster aimed at deterring irresponsible dog walkers from allowing their pets to make a mess of the streets.
Staff were very keen to take part in this initiative so today we went along to meet the Pupil Voice group in school to talk about a number of environmental issues as they affect Hesleden, and particularly those related to dog fouling.
Pupils were full of great ideas about ways of getting the message across to dog walkers that their activities were unpleasant and unwanted, and they were particularly keen to get started on designing their posters.
We will go back in to school in a few weeks time to meet the Pupil Voice group again, take a look at their finished work and pick a design to be used to promote the poster campaign in the village.
We would like to thank the staff and pupils for their warm welcome to Hesleden school. We have visited on a number of occasions now and we are always assured of a special reception. In particular, the members of the Pupil Voice group are a pleasure to meet. They are a credit to their school and the village and we look forward to meeting up with them again soon to judge the poster competition.
