A Fife Councillor has called for a ‘war of action’ against dog fouling which he claims is ‘out of control’ and is ‘a blight on our streets’ and needs tackled with some urgency. Alex Rowley has lodged a formal motion to the next meeting of the Cowdenbeath Area Committee calling for the committee to host a meeting of all council officials with responsibility for health and wellbeing in our communities to assess the impact of the problem and what is being done and what can be done to tackle it.
Mr Rowley said; “This problem is getting worse and is blight on our streets that must be tackled and we need a war of action to challenge the irresponsible dog owners who are to blame for the problem”.
The councillor for Benarty, Kelty and Kingseat also criticised Fife Council for their ‘failure’ to focus resources at the problem. He said; “The council used to provide over one million biodegradable dog bags every year to encourage dog owners but they stopped this despite the success it was having. They then took street orderlies off their beats and put them into roaming squads and they are failing to apprehend the irresponsible owners and in doing so failing in their responsibility to keep our streets clean”.
Mr Rowley says that a shift in policy is required that would see more focus and joined up services in the community. He said; “All services that focus on the environment at community level should be brought under a single community services management at area level. This will bring about management savings that can then be reinvested into frontline staffing. We need fewer bosses and more workers focusing on keeping our communities clean and safe”.
The Labour opposition leader also wants to see more direct action from the police. “We need action that will send out a clear message that not cleaning up your dogs mess is not acceptable and will result in a prosecution. I want us to use surveillance cameras to gain the evidence to take the action needed and we should be prosecuting those responsible. I have written to the police along these lines and I hope they will also attend the meeting to discuss what action is needed to address this problem”.
He concluded; “I know this is a problem in the Cowdenbeath area from the number of complaints I receive. If it is a problem in other areas then people should get in touch with their councillors and demand action”.
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Motion to Cowdenbeath Area Committee
Committee agrees that the on going problem of irresponsible dog owners not cleaning up after their dogs and leaving our streets fouled is both disgraceful and unacceptable.
Committee therefore agrees to call a meeting of all council services with a responsibility for health and wellbeing in our communities and to invite the Police with a view to examine the level and impact of the problem, what is being done and what more needs to be done.
Committee is resolute that we want to see a war of action against this unacceptable blight on our communities.
Moves Alex Rowley
Seconded Mark Hood
