Dear Sir, Complaints about dog fouling are coming in thick and fast. Sadly there are a few dog owners who walk their dogs early in the morning or late at night or simply open their front doors to let their dogs run wild and their dogs are leaving their mess on the road and pavements throughout the village. Sadly, the problem is not unique to Heighington. It is a national problem which must be stopped. People who live in the delightful Chestnuts housing estate tell me of strangers who live elsewhere are having the temerity to drive from their own homes, park their vehicles adjacent to the large grassed area where children play, and let their dogs out leaving their filthy calling card behind them. The result of dog fouling is making many residents particularly parents see red.
Children are walking in dog mess taking it into cars, homes and school and pushchair wheels are getting covered in the stuff. It is unpleasant, embarrassing for the children and dangerous to the health of everyone. Unfortunately, control is difficult because of the times these irresponsible dog owners let their dogs do what they do naturally it is difficult to catch the offenders but something has to be done. In the first instance, I appeal to all dog owners to pick up after them. You are the dog’s owner and are totally responsible for it. Dog fouling is unacceptable to all and must stop. I urge all residents to contact me if you can identify any dog owner who does not pick up after his/her dog. The details will be passed on to DBC Enforcement Team who WILL act. We have done this before and dog owners have had to pay an £80 fine and we will do it again.
So to all dog owners who do not clean up theirs dog’s mess be warned, there are lots of parents out there who are furious about the dog fouling problem and they will be watching…ALL OF THEM Litter – As a Newton News reader I often read letters sent in from Newton Aycliffe readers complaining about the amount of litter in the town so as Chair of LitterFreeDurham I decided to see the problem for myself. I jumped on my bike pedalled around the ring road and turned right into a road somewhere near the Blue Bell garage. I had no idea of the road layout so I meandered randomly from the Blue Bell garage down to the Town centre, through Sharp Road and eventually back home via Heighington Lane taking in lots of roads that I never knew existed. I am delighted to report that apart from the odd piece of paper there was very little litter seen on my longish travels.
From my ‘inspection’ Newton Aycliffe is know where as bad as been reported. I don’t doubt that there will be grot spots in the town and on the factory estate and it is these areas that your local authority and volunteer litter pickers should concentrate on. The road from the A167 leading into the Business Park does not give a good impression to visitors and the hedge opposite Tesco tends to fill up with litter blowing across the road from the supermarket – two examples where action needs to be taken. Perhaps Tesco management can organise someone to clean up this hedge on a regular basis to save the local Primary school doing so. Litter is a problem everywhere. In Heighington we pick litter monthly to keep the roads around the village clean. I know that there are lots of people in Newton Aycliffe who take pride in their town and this can be seen when driving through.
A number of people simply don’t complain about the litter, they do something about it by getting out and cleaning up the littered areas and I am confident that many of these volunteer Litter pickers in Newton Aycliffe and Heighington will be supporting LitterFreeDurham’s Big Spring Clean starting February 27th through to April 16th – don’t complain – take action join them to help them to help you to keep our communities CLEAN. Councillor Gerald G. Lee, Heighington
