County’s controls on dog fouling could see three-year extension

Anthony Lewis – Local democracy reporter

Measures to tackle dog fouling in one Welsh county could be extended by another three years.

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council is set to consult on extending public space protection orders (PSPOs) on dog controls in the county borough from October 2026.

One PSPO covers RCT as a whole and one is specific to Aberdare Park which says that dogs must be kept on leads at all times in Aberdare Park.

The orders need to be renewed every three years and, after consultation, the council renewed them in 2020 and 2023.

In 2017 the council implemented new rules for controlling dogs on public land
in Rhondda Cynon Taf under PSPOs.

They introduced a range of what the council calls reasonable and proportionate restrictions on the use of publicly-accessible land across the
county borough and helped control the harmful activities of irresponsible dog
owners while allowing responsible dog owners to continue to exercise their
pets  without undue restrictions.

The restrictions under the PSPOs are that owners must clean up dogs’ mess immediately and dispose of it properly, they must carry a means to pick up dog mess (i.e. bags) at all times, and they must follow a direction from an authorised officer to put a dog on a lead.

Other restrictions are that dogs are banned from all schools, children’s play areas, and marked sports pitches maintained by the council and dogs must be kept on a lead at all times in council maintained cemeteries.

People will continue to be charged a £100 fine if they do not follow the rules and this is the maximum fine that the council can issue.

Despite the introduction of the orders in 2017 and the extensions in 2020 and 2023 there remain a small number of dog owners who do not clean up after their dogs or keep them under control in public areas, a council report says.

A report published by Keep Wales Tidy called An Analysis of Local Environmental Quality in RCT 2022-23 shows since the introduction of the PSPO in 2017 there has been a reduction in the presence of dog
fouling on the streets of RCT from 18% in 2017 to 8.9% in 2021-22 and 10.9% in 2022-23.

The most recent report shows an overall decrease in dog fouling though there was a slight increase from the previous year which shows that the PSPO has led to a reduction in the presence of dog fouling on the streets of RCT but also highlights that this still remains an issue, the council says.

People have until July 20 to respond to the public consultation.

After this a report will go before cabinet with the feedback from the consultation and they will then make a decision as to whether to extend the PSPOs for three more years.