Dog fouling and littering are issues for Chatteriscouncillors

The thorny issue of dog poo on pavements and littering was on the agenda at Chatteris Town Council last night.

Councillors raised the problem of people failing to clear up after their pets during the meeting at the King Edward Centre.

Despite concern over the issue councillors almost resigned themselves to the fact there was nothing they could do to address it.

Councillor Alan Gowler said: “We always have this problem, but the fact is there is not a lot we can do about it, nothing works.”

Councillor Peter Murphy, who is also chair of Fenland District Council’s portfolio holder for refuse, cleansing, parks and open spaces, said Fenland’s team would always respond if there was a problem with dog poo if they were in the area, but they could not go around looking for it.

The question of whether there were enough bins for people to use was also raised, but again Cllr Murphy said it would not matter how many bins there were, people were lazy.

He said: “You can have a bin right next to a bench and people will still drop rubbish like cigarette ends on the floor rather than just reach over and put it in the bin.”

Councillor Sue Unwin added: “People even go to the lengths of picking up their dog’s mess but then throw the bags in bushes and everywhere else.”

Cllr Murphy agreed and said: “You quite often see dog poo bags lying next to the bins.” He also said owners even allow their dogs to poo near them and just walk away leaving it next to the bin.

Cllr Unwin described how she was working as part of the Chatteris in Bloom team when someone blatantly dropped a cigarette on the ground in front of her.

“I told them they should pick it up, they asked me what I was going to do about it and I just told them ‘pick it up’, they did but they were not happy,” she said.

Cllr Gowler explained that incidents of people littering are often spotted by CCTV operators and flagged up, but the police do not respond so it was pointless.