DOG-OWNERS in Ryedale who fail to clear up after their pets could be hit with fines for the first time.

Council chiefs are set to bring a fixed penalty notice scheme into operation throughout the district it would see anybody who lets their dog foul public areas face a £50 on-the-spot punishment. Ryedale District Council’s commissioning board, which meets later this week, has recommended adopting the system and giving a team of police community support officers permission to enforce it following a request from the Safer Ryedale Partnership Under the Dogs Fouling of Land Act 1996, anybody who lets their animal foul a public area without a “reasonable excuse” has the choice of paying the immediate £50 fine. If they challenge it through the courts and lose, the penalty can stretch up to £1,000.

“The serving of fixed penalty notices could be seen as minimising the penalty for failing to clear up after your dog,” said a report on the issue by the council’s health and environment manager Steve Richmond, which will go before the meeting.

“However, the introduction of this power will allow a greater range of people to be authorised and to issue such penalties.”

He said all parish and town councils in the Ryedale area had been consulted about the potential move. The report also said that although the council had already authorised officers to issue fines for dropping litter, but not for dog fouling, and that any fines collected would be ploughed back into other environmental crime initiatives.

Earlier this year, the council and the Safer Ryedale Partnership unveiled the Take The Lead, Take The Bag campaign, which offered town and parish councils subsidised dog bins and bag dispensers in an attempt to encourage them to clean up any mess, after dog fouling complaints were raised as one of the key environmental problems in the district.