Ards North Down Council is on the hunt for a mystery dog owner whose canine has been leaving a mess at a community games pitch in Bangor.
At the recent meeting of the council’s Environment committee, council officers and DUP Councillor Nigel Edmund appealed to residents of the borough to give information on any dogs seen fouling on the community MUGA pitch at Clandeboye Road.
Alliance Alderman Scott Wilson raised the idea of locking the gates to the pitch, which opened in 2015, but was told by a council officer that enforcement was the preferred option.
Alderman Wilson said: “Cleansing did a good job to get rid of this, but it is a recurring issue, and officers will be aware of it. It seems to happen out of hours, early morning, late at night, when people think they can get away with it under cover of darkness.
“This did not used to be an issue, it is only recently, since the MUGA is no longer locked in the evening. It means dogs can go in and do their business whenever they want.
“My understanding is one of the gates to the playpark is locked, but the MUGA gate is left open. I really can’t understand why this gate cannot be locked as well.”
His words echoed sentiments of the Clandeboye Village Community Association. On the association Facebook site the most recent post states: “It’s not good enough for Clandeboye children - and would not be tolerated at the opulent Castle Park HQ of the council, at the many other more affluent areas of the borough, or the dog park at Ballyholme!"
It adds: “As a result of this un-notified, un-welcome and un-consulted change, with the MUGA no longer being secured at nights, people take their dogs into a space with children running, playing and falling and run the risk of a child falling into their dog's urine and faeces.”
It states: “CVCA have laboured the council on the seriousness of this issue, and have had the support of some councillors who also see the danger and madness of this, but the council response has been to tell us anything from 'it’s too expensive', 'ask residents to report it' or 'the MUGA is left open to reduce anti-social behaviour' - seriously!
“Council has known for months that people are using the MUGA to exercise and toilet their dogs at night. Rather than spending an extra five minutes in the evening locking the MUGA to ensure this disgusting behaviour stops, and our young people are kept safe, the council wastes even more time and money by directing their staff to spend hours observing the park and MUGA to try and catch the culprits.”
The association has submitted a complaint to the Human Rights Commision and the Children's Commissioner on the matter.
At the Environment Committee, a council officer said if the Clandeboye MUGA was closed at night the council would be “setting a precedent".
He added: “Every MUGA will want to be locked. And all of a sudden what seemed like a simple exercise becomes a borough wide ordeal, with an expectation to lock all MUGAs. Which will have to be resourced.
“It would be ideal if the community can give us information, if there is a pattern here of a certain dog. Which often happens - someone moves in locally, and lets their dog out in the mornings.”
He added: “If we get the information, we are there. We work those difficult hours, and we can target them. That to me is a better solution than closing the gates.” He said: “Enforcement is the answer.”
The Director of the Environment department David Lindsay told elected members: “There is a strong feeling that these MUGAS are provided as a community asset, to facilitate young people, to try and encourage young people, to provide a safe space, even in the early evening times, when some people think it should be locked up.
“There is a strong sentiment that it is a safe space for young people to spend time at, rather than them being somewhere else where you wouldn’t want them to be, doing things that you wouldn’t want them to be doing.
“The policy is we don’t lock these facilities for those reasons. If you lock them, yes, you might keep someone out who might want to get in for the wrong reasons, but you are also denying access to people who might want to use that facility for all the right reasons.”
