PROBLEMS of dog fouling in Okehampton are expected to improve now police community support officers have been given the authority to issue 'on the spot' fines of £60.

PCSOs will be patrolling well known dog fouling hot-spots during their everyday duties around town, a move that has pleased Okehampton Town Council, which has tried many ways over the years to eradicate the problem.

Cllr David Weekes said: 'It's excellent news. Hopefully, it will deter people who do not pick up after their dogs to do so, knowing that they could be issued with a fine.

'It's been a problem for a number of years and it is steadily getting worse.

'We have done what we can to educate people, using the West Devon Borough Council dog warden scheme, even employing our own dog warden and putting up signs and more dog bins but it is still going on.

'The difference is now that a fixed penalty can be issued and we have a number of PCSOs who patrol the town on a regular basis.

'People can also give information to us at the town hall if they see a regular occurrence of dog fouling in a particular area and a record will be kept for the PCSOs.

'Over the town we know of a few hot-spots but we hope everyone will help in making Okehampton a cleaner place and a safer place for the children.

'The majority of people do clean up their dog mess but there are a minority who let them down.'

Okehampton police constable Matthew Evans said the power for PCSOs to issue fines for dog fouling had been in existence for a little while but it was a case of marrying everything up between the local authorities and the police.

He said:?'We get complaints from councillors and the public and it makes sense for PCSOs to target hot-spots on their everyday patrols.

'It's one of those things that always comes up when you ask people what they would do to improve the town — they are fed up with the dog fouling and certainly there are some places where you can hardly move for it.'