‘Hot spots’ in Tenby and the locality are to be identified in an attempt to catch culprits who do not pick up after their pooches persistently.

Aware that there is a ‘growing concern’ about an increase in dog fouling and littering in the resort, the town council had been liaising with Pembrokeshire County Council over the matter before lockdown began, and plans were mapped out for environmental crime enforcement officers to be tasked with patrolling the seaside town in an attempt to clamp-down on dog fouling offenders.

“Prior to ‘lockdown’ PCC were planning a major campaign to tackle anti-social littering and dog-fouling, with enhanced signage and enforcement but this has had to be put on hold during the current situation,” said Tenby town clerk Andrew Davies.

“As you may be aware PCC contract out enforcement of these matters to the firm ‘District’. Their staff have been ’furloughed’ but will be back when we start to unlock at some point.

“PCC have therefore asked if people could report issues directly to them. This will allow them to capture the data and start to map the hot spots so they can pre-plan patrols based on the evidence they get and ’hit the ground running’ when we start to unlock.

“Not only will the data allow PCC to monitor the extent of the problem and strength of feeling, it will also be useful to inform them as to where the community signage needs to go,” he added.

Nearby, county councillor Jon Preston who represents the Penally ward on Pembrokeshire County Council, as well as St. Mary Out Liberty (New Hedges) and Gumfreston recently criticised irresponsible dog walkers for the mess reported on the pavements, streets, beaches and public gardens of the county, stating that he was ‘disappointed’ that with very few ‘visitors’ around during the current COVID-19 crisis, he and the public could only deduce that it must be on the most part local residents responsible for not picking up.

“As if we haven’t got enough to be dealing with at the moment, a new phenomenon has emerged since lockdown - irresponsible dog owners seem to have decided that they need not clean up after their dogs,” stated Clr. Preston, who has written to PCC’s head of service in an attempt to deal with the matter.

“I have had information from around the county that the problem is escalating as the lockdown continues. Due to the current travel restrictions I’m disappointed to have to conclude that the offenders must largely be members of our communities,” he continued.

“COVID-19 has undoubtedly driven some to act irrationally, but the bizarre practice of cleaning up after a pet only to leave the bag on the pavement, beside a bin or hanging from a tree has been evident for many years, perhaps it is the same people who cleared the supermarket shelves of toilet roll? It remains a complete mystery!”

In correspondence to Neil McCarthy PCC’s environmental services operations manager, Clr. Preston has flagged-up what seems to be an increase in environmentally irresponsible dog owners not cleaning up after their pets during the lockdown.

“This is possibly due to the quiet streets leaving the offenders to carry on unchallenged,” Clr. Preston states in his correspondence.

“Public health is at the forefront of everything we should be doing during the COVID-19 crisis so I would welcome a strategy to address this problem.