April 2009
Dear Editor
In response to your comments in the April edition about ‘Clean up after your dog’ signs on country roads we are pleased to provide the following information.
The signs you were referring to were at Landreyne just beyond the houses (incidentally, only a few yards around the corner in the photograph on the front cover) where our litter pickers had to remove 18 plastic bags of dog mess from a short length of hedgerow.
The Countryside Code says ‘always clean up after your dog and get rid of the mess responsibly’. This is done by the majority of dog owners. Throwing the dog poo bags into hedgerows is not acceptable; it is litter.
Dog faeces left along the sides of narrow country roads can be a real problem for many road users. Walkers, runners, cyclists, disabled people and children frequently have to move onto the verge or close to the hedge to allow vehicles to pass. Everyone knows how unpleasant dog mess can be and it can cause infection in both people and animals. In some areas of the countryside dog mess can affect the special soils that rare plants need to survive.
In your Word from the Editor you referred to ‘our hardworking litter picking group’. Whilst we have 14 volunteers prepared to go out and clear up litter from our roads and public spaces this is very much a community project. We have 29 partners in the community (and we hope that this will increase) who support our aims, which are:
To raise awareness about the problem of litter
To prevent littering on roads and public places in our parish
To keep roads and public places in our parish litter free
If anyone wishes to comment about the project there will always be one of us happy to listen and respond, so please do not hesitate to contact us.