Things have got a bit messy!

Buy photos » Jayne O'Connor, parks monitoring assistant, sprays an area where dog owner's have failed to clear up after their pets. Picture by Nick Hands 1712020NHR

A MAJOR crackdown on dog owners who fail to clear up their pet's mess has been launched in the Vale.

Park officers said they had seen a sharp increase in the amount of dog fouling in parks and open spaces in recent weeks and so they now planned to drive the message home to irresponsible owners.

Wychavon District Council, which manages the Vale's parks, will be marking and leaving waste for a day to show just how much there is that gets cleaned up unnoticed.

Lynn Stevens, parks officer at the council, said: "People don’t often realise just how much work goes into keeping our public areas clean and tidy and we want to highlight just how much dog waste is cleared up.

"Waste will be marked with yellow spray paint which will be left for a day and then the waste will be cleaned away. We hope highlighting the issue will make dog owners think and be more responsible for their actions."

The council will be using Keep Britain Tidy posters which show a fairy carrying a bag of dog poo and a message stating there's no such thing as a dog poo fairy.

"We clean up in parks every day, but we want to get dog owners to realise the scale of the problem," Ms Stevens added.

"We chose this poster because it’s funny, but also has a serious message.

"Dog owners need to be responsible because we shouldn’t have to pick up after them and certainly other park users don’t want to deal with other people’s dog waste."

If these messages fail to work then Ms Stevens said the council was prepared to use its official powers to crack down on persistent offenders.

Owners can be given a £75 fixed penalty notice or up to a £1,000 fine if the case goes to court.

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