Irresponsible dog owners have made shrubbery by a popular riverside walk resemble a ‘Christmas tree’ with poo bag decorations, a Carmarthenshire councillor has bemoaned.

Unfortunately the decorations between Pontamman and Brynamman were dog poo bags tossed over the fence by the River Amman, said Cllr Colin Evans.

He was speaking at a council scrutiny meeting about a proposed three-year extension of a public space protection order relating to dogs.

Council chiefs plan to renew an existing order requiring owners to clean up after their dogs, put them on a lead in certain circumstances when asked to do so by an authorised officer of the council, and not allow them into enclosed playgrounds.

Cllr Evans, who represents Ammanford, told colleagues on the place, sustainability and climate change scrutiny committee that he’d come across situations where dogs didn’t appear to be under proper control on the riverside walk between Pontamman and Brynamman.

He went on: “The number of instances I have come across where people will pick up dog fouling, put it in the little bag and then promptly throw the bag across the perimeter fence of the riverside walk.

“And you have a situation where you have these dog poo bags hanging off various bits of shrubbery like Christmas tree decorations.” The Plaid councillor he couldn’t understand this mentality, with the bags ending up “languishing” on shrubs and trees for years to come.

Cllr Evans wondered if he as a councillor could request owners to put uncontrolled dogs on a lead, and “probably suffer the verbal abuse that will entail afterwards”.

He asked this as the existing order defined authorised officers of the council as someone who was authorised in writing and not necessarily a council employee.

An officer at the meeting said he would get back to Cllr Evans, adding that at present authorised officers of the council referred to enforcement officers only. The officer said increased enforcement could be looked at for the riverside area in question.

The meeting was reminded that there were dog restrictions at a strip of Llansteffan beach between May and September. A one-mile section of Cefn Sidan beach is also a dog-free zone during these months.

Further restrictions can be added to public space protection orders but only where there is evidence to do so.

The order relating to dogs in Carmarthenshire first came into effect in 2016 and has to be renewed every three years. A report before the committee said from 2016 to the end of 2024 there were 3,425 dog fouling complaints and that 136 fixed penalty tickets were issued and seven people prosecuted for not paying the fine.