After reading Fenland District Council’s latest announcement regarding their dog fouling campaign I would like to take this opportunity to follow up on my letter from February 7 issue.

I agree with Cllr Murphy, dog mess is a pain in the back side and although I have only heard negative comments personally, this new initiative has certainly got people talking, so it would be unfair of me to say that it has not increased awareness to some degree.

However, when people asked the Council to do something about it, I imagine they expected them to do something that would eradicate the problem long term.

They have already tried dealing with it once through the costly introduction of their Dog Control Orders and what do we have to show for that.

One on-the-spot fine by the looks of things. If a proper approach didn’t work this certainly wont, regardless of how they dress it up and yet they plan to spend more money repeating it elsewhere.

I still stand by what I said, raising awareness by spraying dog mess with paint will not shame the small minority of irresponsible dog owners into cleaning up after their pets in the future.

You may recall Cllr Archer also echoed this in his letter to The Cambs Times when he said it was doubtful if they would even notice and he is absolutely right.

Less obtrusive jackets are a step in the right direction and yes, covert surveillance would be difficult but surely it would have been preferable to telling everyone when and where they were stepping up their patrols.

Lets face it either option requires them to be there but at least the former stands a chance of yielding results.

To a point I sympathise with the Council, they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t on this one, but if they are serious about making a difference to this important environmental issue then they need stop painting poo and come up with an initiative that will guarantee long term success. PAUL CHAPMAN

Whittlesey

Via e-mail