Wardens could carry out plain-clothes patrols to tackle dog fouling

Wardens could carry out plain-clothes patrols in a bid to tackle dog fouling in the area amid ongoing enforcement challenges.

The prospect of teams conducting surveillance in ordinary attire rather than uniform is under consideration as Renfrewshire Council seeks to catch more perpetrators in the act.

It is one of the most complained about environmental incivility issues in the local authority but witnessing an offence take place, so a fixed penalty notice can be handed out, can prove difficult.

The possibility of undercover work was touched upon as an awareness campaign – including new signage, social media messaging and ‘days of action’ – was discussed at Tuesday’s communities and housing policy board.

Labour group leader Iain McMillan, who represents Johnstone South and Elderslie, said: “We’ve got the new campaign about dog fouling underway.

“I know it’s early days but I was just wondering how that’s going in terms of any sort of community uptake. Have tenants’ associations bought into it, have community councils bought into it?

“I know there’s been a fair amount on social media, which is obviously a good thing … It’s good to see that but on the ground how is it actually working?

“As local councillors we all probably attend regular meetings and we know how much of an issue this is in not just some but most of our communities.”

Gerard Hannah, head of climate, public protection and roads, responded: “We’ve tried a slightly more different approach, shall we say, in terms of making it more personable and trying to get across the impact that dog fouling has across communities in Renfrewshire.

“It is really early days and we’ll be able to do some evaluation maybe after the next couple months and we would hope to be in a position to come to the May board with an update on how things are going, in terms of uptake.”

Turning to the topic of enforcement, he continued: “Everyone is aware and I’m sure appreciates the challenges around enforcing dog fouling.

“Most folk tend to see a couple of wardens walking towards them and, lo and behold, they pick the dog fouling up, so we are looking at potential ways of plain-clothes patrols by the wardens to see if that was possible as another way of trying to deter it from happening in the first place.

“[It’s] early days yet but we’re happy to come back at the May board and hopefully we’ll have some good information to provide to members at that point.”