St Just Town Council is reminding people to pick up their pet’s mess after joining Keep Britain’s Tidy We’re Watching You campaign, appointing volunteer, Doug Luxford, as their Dog Fouling Community Ambassador. This is a project being carried out in partnership with Cornwall Council.
Residents and visitors will have noticed the eye catching signage around the hot spots of the town and Doug has been making regular patrols to monitor and deal with the unsightly and dangerous problem.
Dog Fouling Community Ambassador, Doug Luxford said “I got involved because, like most in our town, I care about St Just. Quite a few of us were getting tired of taking our kids or grand kids to school, or popping up town to the shops, the library or the doctors and having to watch out for a freshly deposited pile of poo on route!”
He went on to explain “This is not a one-man Crusade; this is the local community saying enough is enough. This is a local problem caused by a few local inhabitants, which for some is a hard pill to swallow; we can’t blame this on the visitors. Lockdown has proved that. Stay Local, for a few Dog owners has become Poo local!”
Under the Antisocial Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act it is an offence to allow a dog to foul in a public place and fail to remove the faeces, and if caught the owner can be given a fixed penalty notice of £100. Any resident that observes pet owners not doing the right thing, can report the fouling incident on the Cornwall Council website or by calling 0300 1234 212. As a witness, you will need to give the time, date and place of incident, along with a brief description of the person and their dog and what you saw. To lead to an investigation and action being taken, you will also need to provide the name and/or address of the individual or, other identifying information, like a vehicle registration number.
Councillor Sue James, Deputy Mayor of St Just wanted to remind people “Not only is it unpleasant to see dog poo left on our streets, open spaces and rural footpaths but it is a definite health risk to humans (especially children), other pets and even farm animals. This is due to the invisibly viruses and parasites that can be shed in the faeces.”
The Town Council are very pleased with how this initiative is going and grateful to Doug Luxford for his efforts to reduce the amount of dog excrement on our streets and his picking up litter as he goes, including the latest phenomenon of discarded face masks and plastic gloves. The Council is hoping that Doug will win the hearts and minds of residents who will realise it should not be a volunteer’s job to clear up after them. Whilst it would be sad if it takes fining people to bring about changes in behaviour, for those that persist, that might be the only way.