A SECURITY camera could soon be used in a market town to deter dog owners from leaving their pet's mess.

Kington Town Council have asked Herefordshire Council for a moveable CCTV camera to help catch owners who fail to clear up their dog's mess.

Town Councillor Ian Wood-Johnson is leading the scheme and wants the town council to purchase a security camera for £150 if they are not given one.

He said: "If we can catch and fine one or two dog owners then it would put the message out there that we're not prepared to put up with it.

"Some owners clean up their dog's mess but others don't and we're going to get tough on it. The problem is pretty bad and when we clean the town on a Sunday picking up dog mess is a regular thing.

"We can pick up a bucket full of dog mess from Back Lane in one swoop and the Recreation Ground has the same problem. As councillors we have no powers to fine these people so I don't know the answer other than cameras."

Dog owners have a legal duty to clean up after their dog. Failure to do so could result in a Dog Control Order with an £80 fixed penalty notice, or a maximum fine of £1,000.

A Herefordshire Council spokesman said that CCTV cameras are not the must effective way of catching dog owners who fail to clean-up after their pets.

The council don't currently use CCTV cameras for this purpose.

The spokesman said: “When Herefordshire Council receives a complaint regarding dog fouling, the community protection team gathers all available information regarding times, dates, descriptions of dogs and owners to determine a pattern of offending.

"Using this pattern, an officer visits the area so that the dog fouling can be witnessed. We then take appropriate action which could result in the issuing of a fixed penalty notice to the person in control of the dog.

“We encourage anyone to report dog fouling via the Herefordshire Council website.

“At this point in time we have not received any reports from Kington Town Council regarding dog fouling, but we are happy to work in partnership with them to tackle this issue.”