News that Wigan has the highest number of dog poo incidents has caused a stink amongst regular walkers. Many frequent users of Pennington Flash believe that lack of bins and lockdown were to blame for the area being given the top spot in the north west for incidents.
There were a total of 534 incidents in the borough last year, with Salford coming second with 417 reports. Tameside (365), Rochdale (243) and Oldham (216) came in third, fifth and sixth respectively across the north west, according to Freedom of Information data collected from 101 councils by Pet Plan.
There has been no fines issued by Wigan, Tameside, or Rochdale councils in 2021 to perpetrators - Oldham handed out three fines.
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The Manchester Evening News was told by a number of dog walkers that they believe these incidents came as a result of the popularity of the area during lockdown - as Wigan is home to a number of popular nature reserves like Pennington Flash or the Three Sisters.
“I didn’t think it was too bad today,” one walker with his two children said. “But I think maybe it was due to the lockdown when there were lots of people coming here that those numbers went up.”
There was opinions that nature reserves are usually less blighted by dog muck because there is an abundance of bins. This keeps the area cleaner and attracts more people to come - but the streets are where the issues lie, one couple said.
“I don’t think it is too bad around here,” Bob Bell told the M.E.N during his walk at Pennignton Flash with wife, Jean. “I bet there is more on the street, for me that’s the issue.
“It could also be the fact that dogs run off and you can’t see them do it and that is why it gets left. There is more on the streets than around places like this. We come every day, it’s like an oasis in the middle of the town.
“It’s peaceful. Wigan is no different in terms of dog poo than other places we have been to though.
“Around here there are one or two bins but when there isn’t any at all it puts people off [picking up after their dog] because they won’t want to carry it about.”
The Westhoughton residents, who visit the Flash every day, believe more should be done to help clear the streets. More bins is an opinion shared by another couple who regularly walk their dog Tess in the area.
“It’s the first time we have been here for 6 months since Lilian [his wife] has been ill,” Charles Lloyd explained. “Don’t think it’s much of an issue here, we carry our own bags and pick up after ourselves as do others.”
“If they put bins out, people will see them and they will bin them,” Lilian weighed in.
“It’s the first time doing this in a while, we love it here. It will be a lot better when the café is here, we wish they wouldn’t have done it in summer when everyone was here.”
The couple from Golborne were keen to stress that the amount of reports shows people in the borough are vigilant in spotting the issue. They were surprised by the figures revealing Wigan as the worst in the north west.
A spokesperson for Wigan Council said: “Wigan has worked hard to make the reporting of dog fouling as easy as possible to assist residents encountering issues. During 2021, staff undertaking enforcement duties were redeployed to other duties in support of the pandemic.
“An effective Public Space Protection Order is being developed to support the education of residents and the issue of fines where education fails to work. Our stance first and foremost is to educate offenders to prevent them re-offending.
“We only issue fines for repeat offenders. If any residents wish to report dog fouling or any other anti-social behaviour they can do so via the council’s Report It website at: https://www.wigan.gov.uk/Report-it/Report-a-problem.aspx.”
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