Agenda item

Subject to the required notice being given, Members of the Council can ask questions of the Chairman of the Council, the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of Committees or Sub-Committees.

The time allocated for receiving and disposing of questions shall be a maximum of 45 minutes. Any question not disposed of at the end of this time shall be the subject of a written response, copied to all Members unless withdrawn by the questioner.

Subject to the required notice being given, Members of the Council could ask questions of the Chairman of the Council, the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of Committees or Sub-Committees.

One question had been submitted as set out below:

Question

From Councillor Jo Henderson to Councillor Michael Talbot, Portfolio Holder for the Environment:

“Please can I ask the Portfolio holder, with the ever increasing issue of dog fouling in Harwich and Dovercourt, will he consider having a full time Dog Warden solely for this issue in our District?

At present the excellent wardens we have are not able to tackle this problem because they have to cover such a wide area of Council responsibilities.”

Councillor Talbot replied as follows:-

“Thank you for your question Councillor Henderson. This is a concern shared by all our residents.

We currently have two full time dog wardens who are responsible primarily for the collection and return of stray dogs with the Tendring District. Unallocated time following their primary role is spent on duties which are directly related to the dog wardens such as microchipping of dogs, dog barking noise complaint etc.. However, the majority of the remainder of their time is spent patrolling dog walking areas and other areas of high footfall such as seafronts, town centres and open spaces, the purpose of which is to act as a visible deterrent towards irresponsible dog owners along with providing a visible presence to dog walkers who may actually have enquiries or wish to pass on information to the wardens.

During the summer the working day of the two dog wardens is extended by a split shift system; with one dog warden starting at 07.45 and finishing at 16.15 whilst the other dog warden starts later at 10.30 and finishes at 19.00. The purpose of the extended day during the summer period is to be able to patrol areas at times of the morning and evening (i.e. before and after the normal working day for most people) when dog walkers are present  in much larger numbers.  

Whilst duties such as abandoned vehicles, cars for sale and fly tipping are the primary responsibility of the two Community Wardens, In practice whilst an officer is in a particular area of the district they will, pending their time availability, undertake other duties which may not be part of their core role.  In undertaking these additional duties the council ensures that service requests from members of the public are dealt with in a timely and efficient manner whilst also ensuring that staff remain robust with their multiple and varied skill sets.

Lastly I would like to confirm to you that the two dog wardens patrol both Harwich and Dovercourt seafront areas on a regular basis and will continue with these patrols into the future.”

Councillor J Henderson then asked the following supplementary question –

“Thank you Councillor Talbot but you did not actually answer the question I asked you. The question was – will you consider having a full-time dog warden solely for the District. My supplementary question is this – what I would like you to do is undertake a review of the resources being made available to tackle this ever increasing problem across the whole of the District and do you further agree with me that if we want to present this District as a top destination for tourism we need to get the basics right? This issue is one of those basics our residents and visitors deserve to have dealt with.”

Councillor Talbot responded along the following lines –

“Thank you Councillor Henderson. What you are really after in your question is it possible to have a Warden especially allocated to Harwich and Dovercourt. The honest answer really is not so. The finances would not allow it. We are cutting back everywhere we can. We’ve only had a couple of dog wardens for may years now. I think that they were cut in the years of the previous administration. But certainly dog fouling is a major cause of worry and disturbance to people in the area. And it gets much worse in the summer. It is a problem everywhere. I can not make any promises to you but what I can say is you like me are a member of a Parish/Town Council. There is a little bit we can do inour area. For example, St Osyth Parish Council have put up notices all around the parish reminding people that dog fouling is an anti-social behaviour and can lead to a £50 fine. Hopefully it will make people feel ashamed if they do not pick up their dog’s waste. None of that of course Councillor Henderson is a promise of an additional dog warden.”