There are few things more annoying than going for a walk in your local park or popping over to a friend’s house, only to be greeted by an unwelcome visitor on the street instead: dog mess. Whilst most of us are responsible pet-owners, not everyone picks up after their beloved pooch and some leave their dog’s poop behind for an unlucky neighbour or two to step in.
There are by-laws, however, aimed at dealing with the problem, and councils have the power to issued fixed penalty notices against people caught not clearing up after their pet. To check the situation in Neath Port Talbot county, WalesOnline contacted the county council to ask how many fixed penalty notices had been issued for the last year due to littering and dog-fouling offences – and the results have surprised many local residents. For more stories about Neath Port Talbot, go here
For the time-frame, February, 2021, to February, 2022, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council issued just five fixed penalty notices for littering offences, and just two for dog fouling/dog mess offences. There were no reports of multiple fixed penalty notices, this means no-one received more than one, and there was no more than one fixed penalty notice issued on any particular street or neighbourhood in the county borough, a spokesperson for the environment team at Neath Port Talbot Council said. There was also no-one fined higher than the set fixed penalty notice fee of £100, for either littering or dog-fouling.
