The Council is right to have decided to get tough with dog owners who continue to let their animals foul on roads and footpaths, grass verges, parks and playing fields.

They have had plenty of time now to get used to the new rules which were introduced last year. There should no longer be any need for the "period of grace" given to those owners who disregard the law, allowing them to get away with a warning. No owner, surely, can now reasonably plead ignorance.

The Council launched the new legislation, under the Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act 1996, with plenty of publicity. It erected countless warning signs throughout the district. An increasing number of responsible dog owners seem to have got the message and take their animals out equipped with scoopers and polythene bags.

Yet still there are too many owners who let their dogs out alone to make their mess wherever they want. Others actually stand alongside their pets while they do what they have to do and then walk on, leaving the mess for someone else to tread in or for some child to get on its hands.

We have come a long way in terms of hygiene awareness since the days when dog dirt was regarded merely as something rather unpleasant. We now know that it carries diseases, the worst of which can make children go blind. It is right that leaving it lying around should be regarded as an offence meriting fines of up to £1,000.

The proposed "zero tolerance" policy needs to be applied firmly until there is zero fouling of our pavements and grassed areas.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.