Parking wardens and refuse collectors could soon be tackling errant dog owners in a move to stamp out dog fouling on pavements, parks and playgrounds.

As part of the drive to clean up the streets, South Lakeland District Council has set about looking at a number of ideas that could see street-based staff doubling up their duties.

Parking wardens, refuse collection supervisors and other staff could all be trained to educate, inform and, where necessary, carry out enforcement against dog owners who refuse to clean up after their pets.

Dog wardens could also be found picking litter and carrying out other duties as they patrol the streets encouraging dog walkers to "bag it and bin it".

Although no one has been prosecuted by SLDC for dog fouling in recent years, the authority does serve enforcement notices against individuals.

Only three notices were issued to inconsiderate dog owners last year (2002/3) from 13 the year before due to the fact no one has been dealing with enforcement for the last three months.

In order to make a maximum impact, future wardens may in future be encouraged to work more flexible hours, targeting peak dog walking times.

Officers have been asked to explore a series of ideas all included in a report to SLDC's overview and scrutiny committee.

SLDC director of commercial services Mike Jones said although South Lakeland did not suffer so much as crowded cities from dangerous and unsightly dog mess, the region was particularly difficult to police because it was a large, rural area.

He said dog wardens' time was also used up dealing with dozens of stray or lost dogs found in the district last year 65 were kennelled and a further 20 were returned to their owners.

He said: "I would stress these ideas are at the earliest stages. We are looking at using officers that are already out there to make them a little bit more involved with looking out for dog owners and helping us to educate - which I believe is the best way forward."

Unison South Lakeland branch secretary Vince Ravetta said although doubling up duties seemed to make sense from the point of view of the rate payer, the union would be concerned if individuals became overloaded with work and diverse responsibilities.

"Council employees are often happy to take on extra jobs particularly if it is community oriented things like litter or dog fouling - after all we live here too and we want it to be a nice place.

"What we don't want to see is people getting into trouble for not completing all their responsibilities because they have too much to do."

Litter-awareness group Keep Grange Tidy, which helped spearhead an anti dog-fouling campaign on the Cartmel peninsular, has welcomed the report.

Penny Pullen, of Keep Grange Tidy, said: "I think this is excellent. I know it is not good to have a culture of fear with people only doing things in case they are punished. But people need to be told in order to bring out their personal sense of responsibility."

SLDC community overview and scrutiny committee will discuss the report on Wednesday, April 23.

April 17, 2003 17:00