Dog fouling

You must clean up after your dog on all land to which the public has access in the Wyre Forest district. Not cleaning up is an offence. You risk a fixed penalty fine of £100 on the spot, or prosecution in a magistrates' court resulting in a fine of up to £1,000. Authorised officers may also require your name and address; providing false details is itself an offence.

Dog faeces can contain Toxocara roundworm eggs, which can survive in soil for years. If ingested, particularly by children playing in affected areas, they can cause serious health problems, including nausea, asthma, and in severe cases, blindness or epileptic episodes. Dog fouling affects everyone who uses our parks, paths and open spaces. This page explains how to report an offence and how to request a clean-up on council land.

Request a street cleanse

Found dog fouling on a public path, park or council land and don't know who left it? You can request a street cleanse using our online form. We can only remove dog fouling from council-owned roads, pavements, parks and open spaces. Any dog mess on private land, including private car parks, housing association land or business premises, is the responsibility of the landowner to clear. Please include the location as precisely as possible so our team can respond.

Cleaning up after your dog

It is a legal requirement for anyone in charge of a dog to clean up immediately if their dog fouls on any land to which the public has access. This can include private land where the landowner has given permission for the public to enter. Under our Dog Controls Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), you must also carry an appropriate means to pick up at all times. An authorised officer can ask you to produce your means to pick up on the spot; not having one is not a valid excuse. This can result in a Fixed Penalty Notice being issued.

The only exemptions to this are:

• A registered blind person with an assistance dog
• A deaf person in respect of a dog trained by Hearing Dogs for the Deaf
• The person has a disability which affects their mobility, manual dexterity, physical co-ordination or ability to lift, carry or move everyday objects. This relates only to an assistance dog trained by a prescribed charity
• Where the landowner has consented to the owner not cleaning up

Bagged waste can be placed in any dedicated dog waste bin, general street litter bin, or taken home and placed in your household waste bin. Do not leave bagged waste hanging in trees or on fences; this is also an offence.

Our PSPO covers a range of additional obligations for dog owners and walkers beyond fouling, including lead requirements, designated lead areas and dog exclusion zones. Read the full Dog Controls PSPO.

Report a dog fouling offence

If you witness someone not clearing up after their dog, you can report it to us, and we will investigate. Your report could lead to a fixed penalty notice being issued or, where evidence allows, prosecution.

What to include in your report

The more detail you can provide, the better. It would be helpful to include:

• The time, date and precise location of the incident
• A description of the person in charge of the dog, including clothing worn, any vehicle they arrived in, and whether they regularly walk the same route
• A description of the dog, and its name if known
• Anything else you saw that you think is relevant

Named reports and anonymous tip-offs

To report formally and enable us to consider enforcement action, you will need a My Wyre Forest account. This is free and quick to set up, and allows you to track the progress of your report. If the matter proceeds to court, we will need you to provide a witness statement.

If you would prefer not to give your details, you can still contact us. Anonymous information about locations, times and descriptions helps us target patrols in the right areas, even if we cannot take formal enforcement action without a named witness.

How we deal with offences

If one of our officers witnesses an offence, they are able to issue a fixed penalty fine on the spot.

If we receive reports of offences being committed and the offender's details are known, we can issue a fixed penalty notice; if that is not paid, we can pursue the matter in court.

If the offender's details are not known but we have information such as a location, times, or descriptions of the dog or person, we can target patrols in these areas.

Your information and privacy

Information you provide when reporting an offence may be used as evidence in legal proceedings. Please read our My Wyre Forest privacy policy and our Enforcement privacy policy for details of how we handle your data.