Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Call for action to rid Dundee of dogs’ dirt

Liberal Democrat group leader and West End councillor Fraser Macpherson said more staff are needed for the council's animal control service.

Post Thumbnail

Opposition councillors in Dundee say more action is needed to rid the city’s streets and parks of dogs’ dirt.

Liberal Democrat group leader and West End councillor Fraser Macpherson said additional staff are needed for the council’s animal control service.

Earlier this year, the group proposed that a salary of around £30k be included in the city council’s budget to fund an extra service staff member.

But this was rejected by the SNP majority administration.

Mr Macpherson is backing a council plan to relaunch its ‘Green Dog Walkers’ scheme.

This will ask pet owners to wear a green armband to show they are committed to cleaning up after their dogs and other good practices.

Mr Macpherson also highlighted that not enough fixed penalty notices are issued to deter owners from letting their pets foul pavements.

Even fewer are paid.

In March, it was reported that of ten issued from January 2022 to February 2023, only three were paid.

‘Further help needed’

Mr Macpherson said: “We’ve been very impressed with the work of the animal control team in tackling dog fouling.

“But we feel the team needs greater resource which is why at this year’s council budget, our group included the resources to fund an additional animal control officer in its proposals for the 2023/24 revenue budget.

“The number of fixed penalty notices issued is low as is the payment of them and additional resources would further help deal with the dog fouling issue.”

Councillor Fraser Macpherson.

He added: “The vast majority of dog owners behave responsibly, picking up after their dog, but a small minority do not.

“We get regular complaints from residents about dogs’ dirt left on pavements, in parks and other open spaces.

It is filthy and unhygienic and we are anxious the city council therefore takes further steps to deal with dogs’ dirt in public places.”

‘Green Dog Walkers campaign’

The council’s environment and public health manager, Jamie Landwehr, recently told Mr Macpherson:

“The promotion of ‘Green Dog Walkers’ has been limited in recent years due to the pandemic and the standing down of core volunteers who had been involved with this in Dundee.

“This was discussed recently at a meeting with it being noted that we have had recent interest from a couple of groups looking to get involved with promoting this scheme again so discussions with them are planned.”

Baxter Park is a popular spot for dog walkers in Dundee. Image: Kim Cessford

West End Ward colleague, Councillor Michael Crichton added: “We are pleased therefore to note that environment officers are looking to relaunch the Green Dog Walkers scheme which previously ran in Dundee.

“It began in Falkirk, by two dog walkers who were fed up of dogs’ mess in public places.”

Conversation