Dog owners cry foul over fines

Royton, Shaw and Crompton District Partnership
DOG owners hit with fines in a crackdown on pet poop have protested their innocence.

The partnership heard that 53 patrols have been carried out in Royton, Shaw and Crompton with 28 fines issued for failing to clean up faeces — and one for littering when the person bagged dog waste but then threw it into a bush.

It’s part of a campaign by Oldham Council’s Environmental Action Unit to rid the borough’s streets of dog muck.

Plainclothes patrols have been staged outside normal working hours with a zero tolerance policy on owners who fail to scoop up their pet’s mess.

The patrols have seen a high-level of compliance with many owners doing the right thing.

But in a lot of cases people caught said they are responsible dog owners and normally picked up after their pets — and actually had bags on them.

They have complained about the £80 fines saying that although they agree with the initiative they felt they had been unfairly targeted.

Since the Chronicle publicised the campaign further patrols have been carried out but no fines issued — put down to people being aware of the initiative. Complaints about dog fouling have plummeted.

Councillor Rod Blyth said: “This has been a good initiative.” He highlighted the case of a man with a rottweiler and bulldog who refused to give details but the officer gave a description to police and a fine was issued to his address.

Flyers to highlight the offence have been delivered to hotspot areas. So far £6,000 has been spent on weekend patrols and £500 on leaflets.

The council teamed up with Keep Britain Tidy and Oldham Roughyeds for the campaign which uses the phrase “there’s no such thing as the dog poo fairy”.



NEW head of highways and engineering Phil Matley told the partnership about Oldham’s £10 million road resurfacing scheme.

The money is to be used over four years and includes each District Partnership being delegated £25,000 per ward each year over four years to spend on roads it wants treating.

With four wards, the partnership will receive £100,000.

Mr Matley said it was a significant investment that would reduce a backlog of repairs by 25 per cent.

He added: “I think in the current economic climate and with the budget pressures everyone is facing that it is fantastic.”

Councillor Mark Alcock said: “I welcome this. This is £10 million extra on top what we are already doing.”

Councillor Bernard Judge suggested more inspectors would prevent problems by ensuring utility companies carrying out work reinstated roads properly — but was reassured the council is already doing this.

Councillor Olwyn Chadderton suggested motorists wrongly driving straight across from Oozewood Road to Fir Bank Road had resulted in several near misses that could have been horrific - and was backed by the police. Highways will consider what can be done.

The partnership is to form a working group to look at suggestions for which roads need work.