BRADFORD'S dog control orders will be extended, but wardens have acknowledged that they need to better job at enforcing them.

This Summer Bradford Council held a public consultation on whether the district's dog control orders, which make it illegal to not clean up dog fouling and let dogs off leads in certain areas, should continue after they expire this month.

Over 1,900 people responded, with most agreeing the orders should be extended, and some saying stricter orders should be introduced.

Bradford Council's Regulatory and Appeals Committee met last week to decide whether to extend the orders.

Richard Winter, a solicitor for Bradford Council, said the orders allowed wardens to issue fixed penalty notices for people who leave dog poo on the street, or otherwise break the orders.

He said: "Breaking these orders in itself is a criminal offence, something that would put off most reasonable members of the community from breaching the orders."

Dog control orders likely to be extended as over 1,900 people have their say

Amjad Ishaq, Environmental Services & Enforcement Manager, said: "We do acknowledge we need to step up more enforcement around some orders. We need to get better at enforcement.

"We're currently working on an extensive awareness campaign about dog fouling, and over the next few months you will see new posters aimed at behaviour change. Some are quite amusing. It is about nudging people to behave responsibly.

"As you can imagine, enforcing dog fouling is very difficult. It is something a lot of people only allow their dogs to do when nobody else is looking. But we have had some successes and some prosecutions. It is something we have to get better at."

He said wardens worked on Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and don't work weekends and evenings. The committee was told that staff would be sent out to locations in the evening or on weekends if there was specific intelligence that people were breaking orders regularly at this time.

Mr Ishaq added: "This can take up a significant financial resource as we have to pay them overtime.

Mark Benton, Environmental Crime and Public Space Protection Order Consultant, pointed out that the response to the consultation showed how many people had concerns about the issue of dog enforcement. He said there had been a behaviour change after the orders were first introduced. He added: "Dog fouling is a big issue for a lot of people in Bradford. A lot of people have asked for new regulations, but this could confuse people, and there would be a massive cost in refreshing signage."

He said complaints had decreased in the recent years - in 2015 there were 964 complaints about dog fouling compared to 783 last year, and this showed that the existing orders were making a difference.

Councillor Geoff Reid (Lib Dem, Eccleshill) said changes to law eventually does lead to changing behaviour, adding: "When the smoking ban came in people said the sky would fall in if they banned smoking, but behaviour changed."

Committee Chair Councillor David Warburton (Lab, Wyke) congratulated the people of Bradford for such a strong response to the consultation, adding: "People across all wards and different areas responded. We had more responses than a lot of other questionnaires and consultations we have run."

The committee voted to extend the orders.