We're Watching You!
Support Cornwall’s #KeepCornwallClean campaign
What we are doing to tackle dog fouling in Cornwall
Dog fouling is high on Cornwall Council’s #KeepCornwallClean agenda:
- We've trained our parking enforcement officers to issue fixed penalty notices (FPNs) for:
- littering
- dog fouling and dogs on beaches
- usual parking offences
- We increased the number of FPNs we've issued from 17 in 2018/19 to 84 in 2019/20.
- We’ve mounted 1,930 high-visibility dog fouling patrols since 2016.
- We've also trained 100 town and parish councils to use a new 'no contact report card' to make reporting dog fouling easier.
- We plan to take stronger action on dog mess this year with more awareness campaigns, signs and enforcement action.
Report dog fouling
If there's dog mess you'd like to see removed straight away, please report this to the Waste and Recycling Team.
If you've witnessed someone fail to pick up after their dog and you'd like this investigated please use the form below.
We're watching you campaign activity
We're testing Keep Britain Tidy’s ‘We’re watching you’ anti-dog fouling campaign at hotspots across Cornwall.
The campaign reduced dog fouling by up to 75% in Portsmouth and other places, according to a Keep Britain Tidy report.
If our test of the signs here in Cornwall achieves similar results, we'll extend the campaign to include more dog fouling hot spots.
The large signs feature a pair of glow in the dark eyes that remind thoughtless dog owners that ‘We’re watching you’.
Plans for 2021
We've given seven organisations We’re Watching You signs to test at a dog mess hotspot of their choice. The organisations are:
- Kenwyn Parish Council
- Porthleven Environment Group
- Porthleven Town Council
- St Columb Major Town Council
- St Ives Town Council
- St Just Town Council
- St Gennys Parish Council
They will check their test sites on a weekly basis to see if the signs are reducing the amount of dog mess. This information will help us understand how effective the signs are at reducing dog fouling. We have asked the testers to provide weekly count data for at least a 3-month period so we can understand the long-term impact of the signs.
What we did in 2020
Last year, we chose 11 town and parish councils to test the signs. The following town and parish councils took part in the trial:
- Torpoint Town Council
- Chacewater Parish Council
- Lanner Parish Council
- Launceston Town Council
- Newquay Town Council
- Camborne Town Council
- Saltash Town Council
- St Austell Town Council
- Tywardreath and Par Parish Council
- Falmouth Town Council
- St Blaise Town Council
The signs reduced dog fouling in these areas by an average of 72.5% over a one-month period. This fantastic result led us to introduce a 2021 pilot scheme to test the longer term impact of the signs.
Interested in participating in future campaigns
If you are a town or parish council or local environmental group and you want to take part, please register your interest by emailing cep@cornwall.gov.uk.