Carlisle clean campaign continues

(Date of issue: Wednesday, 24 February 2010)

Local residents are being urged to support a campaign to make Carlisle… cleaner than ever or face picking up a £75 fine or even court action.

Figures for last year (January 2009 – January 2010), show that:

• 80 warning letters were also sent out to dog owners who were reported as breaking dog-fouling laws;
• 58 fines (fixed penalty notices) were handed out for dog-fouling. Five resulted in further court action, in each case this resulted in a successful prosecution, totalling over £900 in Magistrates’ court fines. Six cases are pending; and
• 16 fines (fixed penalty notices) were handed out for dogs off leads. Five resulted in further court action.

Carlisle City Council wants local people to work alongside them to tackle issues such as dog-fouling. A public awareness campaign to make the city cleaner, greener and safer continues to be up and running throughout the city. This has included around 150,000 free bio-bags for dog-fouling being picked up by dog-owners visiting local community buildings such as the Civic Centre and local community centres.

City Councillor Ray Bloxham, Portfolio holder for Environment and Infrastructure, said:

“We invested time and effort getting the message across that dog-fouling will not be tolerated. Issuing fines has also been seen as the last resort, as we took the education before enforcement approach. When it’s explained that fines can be issued, people think twice. The issuing of warning letters often acts as great deterrent. In the cases were people refuse to follow the rules, we’ve taken further action and have successfully prosecuted every case we’ve taken to the courts.”

As part of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act, enforcement officers can issue a minimum £75 fine to people who drop litter, fly-tip, spray graffiti, fly-post, distribute flyers or leaflets, or fail to clean up their dog’s mess. Fines may be imposed of up to £1,000 in the Magistrates’ Court.