We Are One of 85 LA's Supporting a National Campaign Being Run by the Keep Britain Tidy Group

PLANNING, ENVIRONMENT & REGULATORY SERVICES

DOG FOULING CAMPAIGN - SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010

FINAL REPORT

Introduction

In July 2010 Keep Britain Tidy Group (KBTG) announced their decision to run a national educational campaign during September 2010 to raise awareness of dog fouling issues. To add impact to their campaign, they asked Local Authorities to support them by running local initiatives. Because of an increase in the number of complaints being received by the Environmental Protection Team, it was decided that Bury Council would run a local campaign at the same time and we became one of 85 LA's supporting the national campaign. However, our campaign ran for 2 full months and included enforcement as well as education.

Education

The Bury Council campaign involved officers from Environmental Protection and the Park Rangers working in partnership. Other agencies involved included the LAP Managers, GMP, staff from Waste Management, staff from Animal Wardens (our nominated contractor) and staff from KFC, Prestwich.

The two key messages of the campaign were:-

1) To remind dog owners to always clean up their dog's waste immediately. 2) Having picked up the waste in a plastic bag, it could be disposed of in any public litter bin - it didn’t have to go just in a dog bin. Alternatively, dog owners could take the waste home with them and put it in their grey domestic waste bin.

The campaign, supported by Councillors Gunther, Harris, Bigg and D’Albert was launched in September with an article in ‘Our Voice’. This was followed by the distribution of 10,000 hard hitting leaflets around parks, recreation areas and to other hot spots identified by members of the public or through the LAPs. Because we were supporting the KBTG campaign, we were able to use some of their free materials so 100 posters were displayed in public buildings, vets, pet shops etc and 100 stickers were placed on litter and dog bins in the parks. A number of slides were also on continuous display on the advertising screen in the reception area at Knowsley Place and some are continuing to be displayed. In addition, during the campaign period, requests for ‘no fouling’ signs were given a high priority and actioned as soon as possible.

Enforcement

Having completed the education phase, the campaign moved on to the enforcement stage at the beginning of October. This consisted of two officers patrolling in different areas of the Borough from 7.30 - 9.30 each morning and 4.30 - 6.30 each evening every weekday throughout the whole of October. We also had staff patrolling at the weekends. On some days there were additional patrols provided by the PCSO’s from GMP. The purpose of the patrols was to catch offenders and issue Fixed Penalty Notices where possible and also to talk to dog owners and issue them with free dog bags.

Monitoring of the levels of dog fouling was carried out at 6 different park locations both before and after the campaign to see if there was any impact from the campaign. In addition, during patrols officers were gathering information about levels of fouling and additional hotspots. This information has been used to inform additional follow up work since the campaign ended.

Outcomes

Overall there was a 53% reduction in the level of fouling in the 6 monitored sites in Bury. Nationally there was a 43% reduction.

49 patrols were carried out in a total of 105.5 hours.

522 dog walkers were seen with 177 being spoken to about dog fouling issues. The majority of those were also given free dog bags.

Just over 40 officers from several agencies were involved in the campaign.

2 x Fixed Penalty Notice issued. One has not been paid so a prosecution file is now being prepared for the original offence of failing to remove dog faeces forthwith.

25 x ‘No Dog Fouling’ signs erected Approximately 15 additional hotspots were identified for targeted work following the campaign. Our nominated contractors ‘Animal Wardens’ are carrying out follow up patrols in these areas on a regular basis up to one day per week.

Because of the positive impact the campaign had, it is hoped to carry out a shorter week long enforcement campaign each year either in late spring or early summer.

Outcomes by Local Area Partnership

No of Dog No. of Dog No. of Patrols No. of Hours Walkers Walkers spoken seen to Ramsbottom 80 17 7 15.5 Tottington North Manor Bury West 85 21 7 15

Bury East 116 44 10 22

Radcliffe 111 41 8 17

Whitefield 52 18 8 16

Prestwich 78 36 9 20