Edinburgh dog fouling: Pavement stencils could be used in new council campaign against irresponsible owners

A new fight against dog poo could see stencilled messages on pavements at hotspots across the Capital in a bid to persuade pet owners to pick up after their pooches.

And school pupils could be asked to help come up with a blunt message for dog owners who fail to live up to their responsibilities. Edinburgh was named last year as the  worst place in the UK for dog fouling.

Pavement stencils could return in a bid to remind dog owners of their responsibilities. Picture: Greg Macvean | Johnston Press

The city council's transport and environment committee agreed officers should investigate new ways to combat the problem after a report concluded that  taking DNA from dog poo to track down owners would not be cost-effective.

SNP councillor Danny Aston, who represents Craigentinny / Duddingston, mentioned the use of pavement stencils and was surprised when officers said it had been a decade since they were last deployed in the Capital.  Gavin Brown, the council's head of network management and enforcement, said the use of stencils could be started again as part of an awareness campaign. It had not been as successful as hoped, but future use of it had not been ruled out.  

Cllr Aston said: "I think it works and I would be very keen to see that being resumed. I can think of some bad spots where it's very difficult for signs to be attached to lampposts, so the obvious candidate is putting something on the ground.  It would be really good to know whether it's possible to recommence the street stencilling."

Lib Dem group leader Kevin Lang, councillor for Almond ward, entered a note of caution.  "I'm open to doing it, but I'm worried we end up spending time and effort and money on things that don't actually make a difference but just make us feel a little bit better because we're doing something.

"These people know they're doing the wrong thing and I just question whether a sign telling them is actually going to make any difference."

Gareth Barwell, the council's head of operational services, told the committee: "A lot of research would say that the effect of signage, if it's refreshed regularly, is it gives the impression the street is being watched.  The main deterrent psychologically is that there is a public presence paying attention to the situation and the likelihood that you may be caught."

Leith Labour councillor Katrina Faccenda said the council needed to get communities on side in the fight to stop dog poo being left in the city’s streets and parks.

She said: “In areas where we have really quite bad dog fouling, it tends to be not that many dogs doing it and everyone knows who the dogs are, but it's getting the community involved. I’ve been encouraging people to use the council website to report every time they see it.”

And she urged a “more imaginative approach” to the campaign. “We could get the community and even schools involved in some really direct messages.  There's no point in mincing our words, so if people are behaving in a really bad way we should maybe be pushing the boundaries of what we say on our posters.

“Maybe if we went to schools we could ask 'What would you say to people who don’t clear up after their dogs?'’ I think the only solution is to have the community not just complaining but working with us.”

Mr Brown said pupils would “probably be more direct than we came up with ourselves”.

Meanwhile, Tory group leader Iain Whyte called for more council staff to be trained to help enforce the law on dog owners picking up after their pet. He said 18 street enforcement officers was “a very small number for a city size of Edinburgh”. And he said the original legislation in 2003 had envisaged a much wider use of council officers.