A councillor who gets sent dog-fouling videos said he would like more action to be taken against irresponsible owners. Cllr Peter Black said dog mess was "all over the place", although he conceded it was very difficult to catch and identify culprits.
Speaking at a scrutiny committee meeting, Cllr Black referred to a council report which said only one fixed penalty notice had been issued to owners who didn't pick up after their pet between April 2021 and March 2022. "It just seems to me we're not doing a great deal to tackle that," he said.
Chris Howell, the council's head of waste management, parks and cleansing, said officers would need to see the dog foul and then approach the owner "there and then", but that he would be happy to check how other councils approached this topic.
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Swansea Council received 468 dog mess complaints in 2021-22. Cllr Black said: "I even get residents sending me videos, which is not very pleasant for breakfast I can tell you. Even with the videos you can't identify the person, unless they know who it is."
Mr Howell said when officers attended dog-fouling "hot spots" in high-vis clothing, all owners did the right thing. Going undercover, he said, would more likely result in additional fixed penalty notices, but he questioned whether it would change behaviour longer term. Mr Howell added that putting in extra resources to tackle dog-fouling would mean less resource for another part of the service.
Cllr Matthew Jones said dog-fouling was of the biggest source of complaints that elected members had to deal with, and that he would like to see the enforcement figure rise. He was also interested in finding out how many council officers had powers to issue dog-fouling fines - it would, he said, help "manage expectations". Last year the committee was advised that more officers were being trained to do so - and Mr Howell said he would provide the number in writing.
The committee also heard about the council's approach to fly-tipping and littering in general, which costs some £2.7 million per year to deal with. The removal of fly-tipped waste from public land is a statutory duty, but the investigation and prevention of fly-tipping isn't.
The report outlined other fly-tipping deterrent activities in Swansea, including one prosecution which occurred after binmen spotted a person in Townhill dumping 18 black bags on the pavement before returning to his property a short distance away.
A fly-tipping investigation took place on a back lane in Mount Pleasant, where the driver of a flat-bed lorry was witnessed unloading its contents on the street. He was traced and issued a £400 fine.
There are two fly-tipping units in Swansea with two staff each, plus street cleansing teams. Five fly-tipping fixed penalty notices were issued in 2021-22. There were 1,628 reported instances of fly-tipping in those 12 months with the vast majority small-scale, such as a couple of bags or an item of furniture. The council also handed out 24 littering fines to people and 34 fines to waste operators for breaching duty of care requirements.
Cllr Black, who is chairman of the committee, said he often saw Neath Port Talbot Council publicity about fines it had issued, and wanted to know if Swansea Council handed out fewer, or just didn't publicise them as much as its neighbour. Mr Howell said he believed Swansea had a lower level of prosecutions than Neath Port Talbot but that he was "more than happy" with his authority's mix of education, engagement and enforcement. Being more proactive with publicity was something, he said, which could be considered.
Cllr Peter May, pointing to a successful prosecution in his Uplands ward, said he would like more CCTV cameras rolled out in back lanes to catch fly-tippers.
The committee also heard that the council was looking to block off a lane off St Helen's Road, near the The Kingsway and Dillwyn Street roundabout, where rubbish was often fly-tipped. Mr Howell said "bin screens" were being trialled to improve waste storage on St Helen's Road, which has many shops and restaurants, but that it wasn't a cheap option. Cllr Francesca O'Brien said the new bins she had seen on St Helen's Road were "much, much better" compared to the "appalling" state of the street previously.
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