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Residents are being urged to report cases of dog fouling to the council so that enforcement action against irresponsible dog owners can be taken after the number of complaints tripled in three years.

At last week’s full council meeting, Cllr Peter Burrows asked what steps East Devon District Council were taking to stop the amount of dog poo being left on the streets in the district, particularly in Seaton.

He asked the question of the Portfolio Holder for Environment, Cllr Tom Wright, after that it was reported that there had been 60 cases of dog fouling recorded in Seaton over the last four years, but this was an underestimated and misleading figure.

In response, Cllr Wright said that dog fouling was a big issue and members of the community needed to deal with irresponsible dog owners by reporting them so that enforcement action could be taken.

He added: “The Council’s primary response to reports of dog fouling is to create a job for the relevant streetscene team to remove the fouling. This goes on behind the scenes and I’m confident that most people would agree that the teams do an excellent job in keeping the town looking great and for the most part, free from dog fouling.

“I can see that there does appear to have been a recent increase in reports locally via our customer service centre, directly on our website and on the East Devon app. but so far these reports have not yielded any evidence to support further action.

“We are currently reviewing our internal procedures to ensure that the important link between reported fouling and the subsequent investigation, education and enforcement work by our Environmental Protection team is functioning correctly.

“All new reports of fouling are delivered to a streetscene operative for an immediate clear-up. If the report is accompanied by a specific request (e.g., for education) or if the person responsible has been identified (or a description provided) then the details will also be passed on to our environmental protection team.

“The procedure also provides for the streetscene operative to escalate a report of an area they find to be badly or repeatedly fouled to the environmental protection team. In 2015 just 8 cases were referred to environmental protection officers but in 2016 the figure was 13 and last year it was 23.

“We would encourage people to continue to report concerns about areas that are still being fouled so that Streetscene can clear the area and escalate the case if they feel some local education or enforcement may be appropriate.

“Our environmental protection team advise that they are not aware of any serious, ongoing or recurring problems in the town but cite a number of examples where they have been proactive in taking steps to prevent problems.

“Having identified a specific problem and sent education letters to residents of the Cliff Field Gardens area, that problem was resolved without the need for further enforcement action.

“Officers have also delivered our “responsible dog ownership” talk to Seaton primary school and during last summer they did some beach patrolling work and in all the visits to Seaton beach they have reported ongoing good levels of compliance. We also work closely with Seaton Town Council’s dog warden and we know she will report to us areas of fouling that she sees so that streetscene can clear it up promptly.”