A Freedom of Information request to Southend Council has revealed that the one dog warden in the town has only handed out one fine for dog fouling in the last 4 years. 

The Southend Standard report:

STREET wardens in Southend have handed out just one fine for dog fouling in the past four years – despite receiving an average of 100 complaints a year from fed-up residents.

Southend Council has one dedicated dog warden plus twelve other officers who are able to hand out fines, but only one dog owner has been collared for the offence since 2009 – in 2011/12.

Figures revealed to the Echo following a Freedom of Information request show that from 2009 to 2012, residents complained about the problem to the council 302 times.

You can read the full story here.

Matthew Burgess
http://www.mattburgess.co
I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.