Dog waste dumped in bin next to play area

Concerns have been expressed over dog waste being dumped in a bin “within touching distance” of swings in a children’s play area in Whittington.

Members of the parish council heard a report from local resident Richard Boase about issues with litter bins on Wildmore estate.

Mr Boase said: “I don’t think they were intended for dog waste but that’s all they’re ever used for.

“And those bins are on a children’s play area and one of them’s literally within touching distance of the swings.”

He added: “Sadly the people who walk their dogs, when the bins are full, they don’t take the poo bags away with them. They just drop them on the ground.

“So it’s not great for the environment but it’s not great for them being on a children’s play area either.”

He suggested the parish council request that Wychavon District Council provide larger, enclosed bins “that are not a health risk for the little kiddies” when the public open spaces were due to be adopted from the developer.

Parish council chairman Steve Burrows said: “I’ve walked past several times in the past week and a half and they’re absolutely disgusting.

“It was an avalanche of poo bags coming out the top and all around them, multi-coloured bags over them.

“As Richard said, it’s literally within touching distance of the swings on the children’s playground.

“And they’re not really bins are they – they’re tiny little things with perforated holes in them.”

Parish council vice-chairman Steve Brooker said: “There’s a department of health who have a responsibility for public health and if you’ve got dog bins that close to swings I would have thought they would have shown some sort of interest in that.”

He added he found it “rather frightening”, saying: “Dog waste causes blindness in children and if we’ve got dog waste being deposited in a bin that close to a child’s play area I think something should be done sooner rather than later.”

Mr Burrows said: “We have got an outstanding request for a dog poo bin at Grandison Gardens. I haven’t forgotten that, which is a parish council thing that we can do.

“There is a cost to that and we were going to look at that for next year’s budget and I’ve no doubt by that time we’ll have some issues round the yellow brick road and dog poos as well.” 

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