Action plan to be drawn up to tackle dog mess

AN action plan will be drawn up to tackle dog fouling after residents made it a top priority for their communities.

The community safety team at Dumfries and Galloway Council has vowed to crack down on owners who don’t pick up after their dogs.

This comes after a survey proved that residents in most communities across the region view dog fouling as the biggest ongoing problem within their estates.

In 2025, a total of 261 community surveys were completed, and the top issues were: dog fouling, rowdy behaviour, litter, flytipping, and abandoned vehicles.

The issue was discussed last week by councillors, with Annandale South member Sean Marshall, above, saying: “I’d like to see a summary action plan of what’s going to be done going forward with regards to combating dog fouling because it’s an issue that gets raised with councillors all the time.”

Rob Piercy, team leader with the council’s community safety department, replied: “An action plan to address dog fouling is absolutely something I can look into. I can come up with a real solid plan that you could look at.

“But the big thing that we find with a lot of reports is that people simply want the mess removed. Quite rightly – it’s not nice to have any of this on your street.

“Without any information of who might be committing the offence, and when they might be committing the offence, or even what type of dog or a description of a person, it’s then very difficult for us to issue fixed penalties.”

He added that the council still has “a lot of work to do”, and that a management systems review is currently underway, which will allow the team to spend more time on patrol and being seen within the communities.

Earlier this month, it was confirmed that dog fouling continues to be the number one concern for Nithsdale residents.

The community safety team at Dumfries and Galloway Council is tasked with enforcement around picking up after dogs, and other problems which drag down neighbourhoods such as littering, flytipping and abandoned cars.

During the six months between April and September 2025, the community safety team spent approximately 739 hours in Nithsdale, which included 355 hours of detection, deterrence and reassurance patrols, as well as 53 hours on dog fouling investigations.