Bridgend council prosecutes nobody over dog poo in four years

Bridgend came clean when asked about the reason behind the low numbers for prosecutions

A council has come under fire for issuing just one penalty notice for dog poo in four years, when a neighbouring area handed out more than 750.

Figures show that Bridgend council then pursued no dog fouling prosecutions in the four years to 2022/23, compared with 87 in a next door local authority.

Independent councillor Ross Penhale-Thomas said they were startlingly low.

The council said it wanted to focus its efforts on education and prevention instead of prosecution.

Mr Penhale-Thomas asked why the numbers were down when compared to neighbouring boroughs such as Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) and Neath Port Talbot (NPT), according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

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He said a series of Freedom of Information requests he had submitted to other authorities revealed the figures and asked why those "falling foul" of the law in Bridgend were much less likely to be prosecuted.

Compared to the one fixed penalty notice issued by Bridgend in the four years, there were 754 in RCT and 30 in NPT.

When it came to dog fouling prosecutions across the same period Bridgend had issued none, while RCT pursued 72 and NPT two.

In terms of prosecutions for fly-tipping across the four years, Bridgend had issued none, compared to 87 in RCT and 34 in NPT.

John Spanswick, cabinet member for climate change and environment, said there were two explanations for these low figures.

The first, he said was that the council wanted to take the public with it, and focus more on education and prevention of the issues as opposed to prosecutions.

He also said that a county-wide public space protection order for dog fouling had expired during the pandemic, which meant there was not a proper legal basis in place to issue the penalty notices.

Councillor Ian Spiller said that education on issues such as fly-tipping littering and dog fouling had been ongoing since he was a child.

He added that he felt the "stark" figures showed how neighbouring authorities currently had a better grip on using the legal powers they had.

A new public space protection order is set to go before the cabinet for approval in April.

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