ABOUT 200 tonnes of dog mess is left on streets, pavements and parks across the city every year.
And clearing it up costs city taxpayers around £234,000 per year.
A recent Freedom of Information request submitted to Nottingham City Council revealed that Aspley had the most dog mess on the streets – with the council dealing with almost 500 incidents there in the last two years.
This is much higher than anywhere else, with Dales and Bilborough wards next in line with 271 and 242 incidents reported respectively. This compares to just 22 in Dunkirk and Lenton in the same two-year period.
Residents in Aspley have said they are fed up with seeing dog mess on their streets.
George Todd, 73, of Westleigh Road, said: "It's a problem in the area. You get kiddies in their prams rolling through it and you've got kiddies walking through it – and you get it on your garage drive.
"I know the council has a machine that goes round but people just shouldn't be able to have dogs if they can't look after them."
Sue Stevenson, 65, of Seaton Crescent, Aspley, said: "I do see it regularly on the street, it's very upsetting. I actually trod in some the other day, which made me mad.
"It seems to be in the same places – Broxtowe Lane and Rosslyn Drive. I've seen the machine around. They come out regularly and are very good."
Nottingham City Council has two specialist dog fouling vehicles that are sent out to tackle the problem – a 4x4 called Fido and a specially-adapted motorcycle called Poover.
They cost about £100 a day to operate, which works out about £5 per single clean.
Nottingham City Council also spends £21,000 on washing away mess on city centre streets. It says that it is primarily dog waste – but some is human waste.
Councillor Alex Norris, portfolio holder for area working, cleansing and community safety, said: "The 200 tonnes is a huge amount, but what's also a huge amount is the quarter-of-a-million pounds a year we have to spend to clean it up. At our community meetings we get a lot of frustration on dog mess which is why we spend money on prevention, cleaning and prosecution, but there's a limit to it.
"We need more personal responsibility to kick in. We're annoyed, people are annoyed, I'm annoyed that this is what we have to do – this shows the cost of what people think is probably a victimless crime."
Dog wardens, community protection officers and some other council staff can issue £50 on-the-spot fines, or through the post, if dog-walkers fail to pick up after their dogs.
If they fail to pay up they can be prosecuted and fined up to £1,000 if found guilty in court.
In some areas of the city, dog control orders have been made, which impose different restrictions and the fine can be even more.
A recent dog order that came into force in the Lenton Abbey area last week requires dogs to be kept on their leads at all times and to pick up dog mess or risk a fine of up to £1,000.
How do you think dog fouling should be tackled? E-mail letterspoems@nottinghampostgroup.co.uk or call 0115 905 1967.
