News / Dog poo awareness course “too soft”
COUNCILLORS in Shetland have dismissed plans to educate people caught dropping litter or dog fouling as too soft.
They said tackling the two problems, particularly dog fouling, needed both “the carrot and the stick”.
Environmental health officers had proposed an awareness programme “as an alternative” to paying a fixed penalty notice, which stands at £40 for dog fouling and £50 for dropping litter.
Research had shown that most fixed penalties were issued in areas of highest deprivation.
Environmental health manager Maggie Dunne said this would further disadvantage the poorest in society and contradict the council’s policy to tackle poverty.
An education programme “as an alternative means of discharging the offence” would encourage offenders to change their behaviour, she said in her report.
But councillor Gussie Angus said dog fouling has been a big problem in Lerwick for a long time.
“It has never been worse, it is absolutely appalling”, he said, adding that a “naming and shaming policy through conviction” would be the right way forward.
Councillor Rick Nickerson, a former secretary of environmental pressure group KIMO, said he wanted to keep the deterrent element to ensure that offenders who did not turn up for the education programme would still be issued with a fixed penalty.
His motion won the day by 12 votes to five.
After the meeting, Ms Dunne said that her department issued between 20 and 30 fixed penalties per year, earning around £1,000 for the local authority.
She and 14 of her colleagues, including neighbourhood support workers, were authorised to issue on the spot fines when they witnessed dog fouling or someone dropping litter.
Police officers were also authorised to issue fixed penalties, but were not doing so as
this was not seen as one of their policing priorities.
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