I am pleased to be able to up date you as to some positive action that the Council will be taking in conjunction with the police to combat the mounting tide of dog fouling that we have been experiencing in the past few months. I am sorry it has taken so long to get back to some of you but I am sure when you see what is going to happen you will be pleased to know that a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes.

Thursday 15th May has been marked as a day of special action in Crofton Park Ward. We will be going to the areas that have been identified and undertaking a number of activities under the name of Responsible Animal Ownership, which will include:

o Letter / leaflet drops and distribution to dog walkers
o Clearing dog fouling with our FIDO poop scoop
o Stencilling the area
o Visiting local schools to highlight the issues
o Working with Crofton Park Safer Neighbourhood Police Team and Council Enforcement Officer to educate and if necessary enforce with the use of fixed penalty notices
o In each of the areas we want to have a unique media selling point, for example launching a poster competition with schools.

As some of you already know, The Crofton Park Safer Neighbourhood Ward Panel have made tackling dog fouling a priority for the SNT Police Team and I understand that Council Animal Welfare Officers have already had a meeting with Sergeant Warren Gregory from the SNT to start planning the work programme.

I hope this information will be useful for you and I will update you all again once I have more details of the day's programme. Please let me know if any of you would like to be more involved on the day. Also I apologise to those of you who might already know some of the information but it seemed easier to do a general letter so I knew that I had covered everything. You might also like to know that this programme will take place in other wards and that we are likely to be the first ward where it will happen.