ONLY five people across the whole of West Devon have been fined in the last year for letting their dogs foul paths and parks. West Devon Council has recouped £275 in fines ? a tenth of the contribution Okehampton Town Council alone makes to the borough towards tackling the problem of dog mess. Town councillors questioned the cost-effectiveness of the borough council?s operations at the parks committee meeting in Okehampton on Monday. The borough council says its dog warden has issued five fixed penalty notices of £50 each during the last financial year, four of which were paid during the required period while the fifth was taken to court and fined £50 with £25. Several parishes in West Devon contribute to the dog fouling partnership scheme ? the amount is calculated on the size of their population. With a large population, Okehampton contributed £2,744 last year, but councillors said there was a major problem with dog fouling in many parts of the town. Mayor of Okehampton Cllr Frances Luxton said she thought it ?ludicrous? that just five fines had been issued, not in Okehampton itself, but across the whole borough. Cllr Mark Slater suggested the town council should write to the borough to say it was ?not particularly satisfied? with the council?s performance on dog fouling: ?We feel there is further scope for enforcement and would encourage them to redouble their efforts.? Members backed Cllr Slater?s proposal to write to the borough expressing dissatisfaction with the small number of irresponsible owners caught and penalised. Reporting on the dog fouling situation, the borough?s environmental health department said the last year saw an overall reduction in the amount of complaints of fouling by dogs. However, since the Christmas period, the department had seen a noticeable increase in fouling through the borough, which had caused some resource problems in the short term. The environmental health department said the majority of dog walkers continued to comply with legislation and clean up after their dogs, particularly during daylight hours. They say offences seemed to occur mainly either early in the morning or late in the evening. A letter from the borough council to Okehampton?s town clerk said there was a need to continue to work in partnership and for councillors and the public to provide information where problems were occurring. The letter said if the council was provided with ?quality information? the dog warden could be targeted accordingly, making the best use of what was a valuable but limited resource. The borough council operates its monitoring of dog fouling by employing a part-time dog warden funded through a joint partnership scheme with local parishes who opt into the scheme. A West Devon Borough Council spokesman said: ?This is a partnership initiative with parish councils. To a large extent we rely on the public and participating councils to supply us with information on where there are problems with dog fouling. ?However, we try and adopt an educational role here, where the dog warden talks to people asking them for their help and assistance in dealing with the issue of dog fouling. The council takes enforcement action as a very last resort.?
