Faeces need a private firm (From South Wales Argus)

No we don't need a private firm. we need the dog OWNERS to clean up after their animals. You want the tax payers to pay for cleaning up THEIR mess ? what will happen is they will automatically leave carp where it is because they are 'paying someone else to clean it up..' we need deterrents, pounds for the animals, and heavy fines to drive the message home. Clean up or they PAY up !

As usual the dog poo nazis and out of touch authorities can't see further than the dog poo on their shoes. I agree with Mervyn. It is an insipid idea to force the tax payer into paying a private firm to enforce a futile premise where people are paid to stalk dog walkers around, hoping that they will get to keep their conract valid by fining hapless owners. Because that's what would happen.

Anybody that thinks the mess left outside their houses (I have this problem too) is going to stop with a policy such as this, is both selfish and deluded as to WHO would actually end up complying and paying the fines.

It won't be the thoughtless, unemployed staffy owner or the lazy neighbour in our streets thats for sure.

Try approaching some burly tattooed rough-neck with the threat of a fine and you will find out very quickly that it is not prudent. Heck even the police are wise enough not to approach 'tasty' individuals with mean dogs alone, and when they do, it is expensive in operation and with planning, knowledge 'tasty' and back-up of their own.

No, it will be generally law abiding citizens in parks and the like (where there are already dog bins) that get sneakily caught and fined, the same generally law abiding citizens that will be paying compulsory taxes for such underhanded behaviour.

You can go further still and pay them to man and follow up expensive CCTV instalations, where would it end?
You will still be left with the problem of getting the worst offenders to comply and the problem of finding the money to pay newly created niche companies that would 'never' admit if it was a job worth doing to begin with.

If this would not be the case, then the alternative that one might imagine would be even more ineffective or worryingly oppressive to the point of infringement on the rights and freedoms of the rest of us.

This is not a new problem, nor is it one that deserves legislation. All of the 'true' dog lovers I know are attentive owners, who take their dog mess bags with them on every walk, and they are equally miffed at owners that are too lazy or turned off to do the same.

I will say it again, education not legislation. Advertising campaigns are a popular, effective and less expensive option, and it wouldn't require constant funding forever more either. Repeat offenders could still be fined by local authorities and a little bit of awareness stired in the conscience of those with the nature to be embarrassed by such a thing is about all we should expect or reasonably ask for.

The rest would be up to a person's sense of public responsibility and popular attitudes.