A Nottinghamshire council could trial dog waste bag dispensers at its country park in an effort to tackle dog fouling offences.
Gedling Borough Council’s cabinet met on Thursday (September 3) where members were asked to approve an extension on the current Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) for dog fouling for another three years.
The current borough-wide PSPO for dog fouling offences is due to expire in October this year but councillors agreed to a three-year extension on it.
Speaking during the meeting, Mike Avery, Director of Place at the council, said dog mess offences have been “frequently reported” across the borough each year, with a “significant” number in the last three.
In the 2023/24 financial year, there were 185 reports, increasing to 193 for 2024/25 and in 2025/26 there were 93 reports up to January 29, 2026.
As part of the extension, councillors also agreed to keep the Fixed Penalty Notice charge at £100 for any dog fouling breaches, payable within 14 days.
Councillor Viv McCrossen (Lab), Portfolio Holder for Climate Change, Parks and Environmental Health at the authority, said it was “completely irresponsible” not picking up after dogs and floated the idea of introducing dog waste bag dispensers at existing dog bins in the borough.
She said: “We’re twinned with quite a lot of European cities and in European cities they tend to take a more proactive way of dealing with this issue.
“It costs the council a little bit more but ultimately if it’s about getting dog muck off the streets, parks, in terms of health of our community, actually having on dog bins a dispenser – that we trial – where we put [biodegradable] dog bags in there, on the dispenser, where the bins are, at a small cost.
“To see whether that would improve the environment. We could argue people should be carrying these bags, but ultimately what we want is a cleaner community and I’m quite happy to think a small expenditure might make a big difference.
“They do it in European cities, I don’t know why we can’t do it here.”
Council leader, John Clarke (Lab), said Gedling Country Park is sometimes “filthy” with dog mess.
He said: “I’m thinking of [Gedling] County Park, we’ve spent all that money [on it], it’s a beautiful place, people love it, yet we go up there and it’s filthy sometimes with dog mess everywhere, so if we could trial [the dispenser] there?”
Mr Avery said officers will take the idea back to the “relevant teams” to consider, where it will be assessed whether it is a viable option, before reporting back to the cabinet.
Councillors also pushed for better education and signage to remind people of the environmental and health dangers of leaving dog waste on the ground.
Cllr Henry Wheeler (Lab) said the authority could help raise awareness to a rare, but serious, infection called Toxocariasis, which can have damaging impacts on people, particularly toddlers and young children.
Toxocariasis is an infection caused by small worms sometimes found in dog, cat and fox waste.
It is not caught from fresh animal waste, rather caught from the soil or sand that has contained the worm eggs for a few weeks or months – meaning young children playing in parks and open spaces are at risk.
Though most people who happen to swallow the worm eggs that cause toxocariasis do not become ill, it can cause serious problems, such as difficulty breathing or loss of vision if the worm eggs hatch and the larvae spread in your body.
Cllr Clarke added: “The things you can get from [dog mess], particularly children, who can be blinded. I think we need to be as hard as that… the idea about putting some photos up, it needs something there to remind people how dangerous this action is.
“We’re not anti-dog, we’re just for better health and people treating our areas with some respect.”
Mr Avery also informed councillors that the authority was looking at bringing in a potential new PSPO, which would require pet owners to be able to show they have the means – dog waste bags – to pick up after their pets.
This would have to be consulted on and brought back to the cabinet before being implemented.
