Tuesday 7 October 2014

Dog Muck Jim

The ruling Labour/Independent coalition in Carmarthenshire didn't promise much when it fought the county council elections back in 2012. Labour's manifesto was a very thin document, and one of the few concrete pledges was that the party would not introduce parking charges for holders of Blue Badges. Two years later, and Kevin Madge (Lab) has done just that.

Although the Independents work as a party, they didn't bother with a manifesto, so at least nobody can accuse them of breaking election pledges. But one of the things they did make a great deal of fuss about after the election was cracking down on irresponsible dog owners and the problem of dog fouling.

Since then barely a week has gone by without the council's press office churning out at least one press release announcing that someone has been fined for allowing their dog to foul in a public place, and the press releases invariably feature Cllr Jim Jones, member of the Executive Board for the Environment and Public Protection. So much so that Cllr Jones, one of Meryl's stalwarts, has earned the nickname "the Member for Dug Muck".
A merry gathering

But as we all know, the problem has not gone away. In many of the favoured haunts of dog walkers little black doggy bags full of poo hang from the branches of trees. Incredible that someone should take the time to clear up their dog's mess and then chuck the plastic bags into trees and hedgerows to leave these little presents dangling there for years to come.

At a recent meeting of the council's Environment and Public Protection Scrutiny Committee someone asked why Police Community Support Officers were unable to fine irresponsible dog owners for not cleaning up after their pets.

The answer was that they can't because there are no Dog Control Orders in place in Carmarthenshire. If there were, PCSOs would be able to issue fines. But never fear because new legislation would enable the council to "revisit" this problem in the near future.

So what are Dog Control Orders and who is responsible for making them?

Dog Control Orders give the police and others powers to force dog owners to keep control of their dogs, ban dogs from certain places (such as beaches) and compel owners to clear up after their pets. And the legislation makes councils responsible for introducing orders.

In other words, Dog Muck Jim and the council already have powers to tackle irresponsible dog owners, but prefer to rely on the power of the press release instead.



8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unless I am very much mistaken they are stood outside Ammanford Police Station.

Ammanford Police Station is a building purchased via PFI and will, over the period of the contract cost the taxpayers of Dyfed-Powys many millions of pounds.

what's more, the station has the most up to date custody facility in the force area - yet the station is closed !!

I think once a week some poor sod of a PCSO has to sit in a van in a car park in Ammanford and call themselves a mobile Police Station.

While Ammanford Station is closed the Police rent a unit at Crosshands out of which they run a traffic Dept. despite excellent garage facilities existing at Ammanford Station.

Talk about waste in CCC - this is waste on an industrial scale yet nothing appears to be done about it.

Anonymous said...

Just a brief clarification.
Many times the reason you see dog poo bags hanging up or dropped in other prominent places is that the owners can't find a poo bin nearby and don't want to carry the bag on the walk. (Dogs will often go for a poo at the start of a walk). So what they (and I) do is put them down and pick them up on the way back and dispose of them at home. I'm not saying that this is the reason in every case, but it is a common practice.
More dog poo bins would help as well.

Redhead said...

Why the hell shouldn't you carry your dog mess with you. Do you think it is surrounded by a fairy cage until you return!

Anonymous said...

@anon 12:27
the police station is open again, but on a part time basis.

Anonymous said...

You do not need POO Bins just take them home or put in a non recycle bin DOG OWNERS NEED TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR ANIMALS !!!

Anonymous said...

Just because I like to follow things up:

Labours manifesto was 28 pages long including the cover, plaids was 14 pages long including the cover. If labours was 'thin'...

jolly rodger said...

depressing looking bunch in the photo.

Anonymous said...

Just to let you know, anon and redhead that after your replys i thought long and hard about your telling me off and i thought you were right. It was stupid of me to be like this and antisosial. So itook gwil to the vet and he was put tp sleep. He was getting on a bit as he was 5 years of age and couldnt do things as fast any more. We are all upset especsially the kids but we cant always pick up the mess espesial out in the cpuntryside where it all looks like fox poo anyway. So no more plastic bags from Gwil or me.
Diolch