Tory Will Quince calls for action over Colchester dog foul

Following on from my last complaint about the issue of dog foul in Colchester, the local newspaper have reported that Conservative representative Will Quince has called for action about the issue of dog fouling in Colchester.

I have to say it’s great to finally hear someone addressing this issue. It’s an issue my wife and I once raised with local MP Sir Bob Russell but which seemed to fall on deaf ears. No surprise there really, Bob’s busy entertaining Her Majesty of late.

Part of Mr Quinces’ suggestion in the newspaper article is to tackle this problem is to allow local residents to be trained as enforcers. It’s a nice idea, but one I fear would fail in practice. Imagine the scenario – you’re walking down the street dressed as one of these wardens and you see a local scumbag with his ‘status dog’ as it takes a massive crap on the footpath. In typical fashion, the owner just walks away from the pile so you approach him and try to issue a fine. The likelihood is that one of two things could happen – he’ll either throw a load of verbal abuse at you, or, (if you’re really unlucky) mug you and run off. OK, so I’m probably going a bit over the top but you get the point.

Don’t get me wrong – I see why Mr Q is suggesting it (not enough Council staff, costs, blaa blaa) but I just think it could end up with someone getting assaulted. What is good is that he has taken a serious issue and raised the profile of the problem. Nice one Will.

One idea could be to make it an offence to fail to carry a means of cleaning up after your dog. Again, difficult to enforce but it might at least encourage more dog owners to clean up after their dogs. The number of people that we see walking dogs in the local woods without so much of a plastic bag is staggering. I’m sure that many of these people are hard working and friendly people who would never throw litter but for some reason they feel that it’s acceptable to leave a brown germ-fest in the local park.

Another answer could be that the council actually get the current dog warden out and about in these areas that are frequented by dog walkers (radical idea, I know). Something needs to be done though as this problem is gradually turning in to a public health issue.