Wardens' report

19 January 2006

We have been very busy in all the three areas lately. We’re making contact with the local groups and organisations – and there are a lot of them in all of our program area so it is going to take a little while to get around to everybody.

Since we have been back from the Christmas break it has become very apparent how much dog mess is on the pavements and other public areas, especially in Ilfracombe. We would like to emphasize to dog-owners that leaving your dog’s mess in this way is a disgusting habit and very unpleasant for other people. We would urge people to pick up after your dog to make the area in which we live a cleaner and safer environment.

If you have any ideas why the the dog mess situation is so bad, we’d really like to hear from you! Is it a lack of dog bins and facilities? Do you have any ideas on how the situation could be improved?

We are going to be working on a special initiative on dog fouling over the next few weeks with the dog warden and the PCSOs, which will involve education and enforcement.

Also look out for further information in this column about our future work with schools and cleaning up and reducing grafitti.

Helen Frisby and Andrew Kellaway