Dog fouling
What does Inverclyde Council do?
It is an offence for any person in charge of a dog to fail to immediately remove and dispose of appropriately any excrement after a dog has fouled without reasonable excuse or the consent of the landowner. This applies to all land to which the public have access whether owned by the local authority or not. Also in the common areas of shared property e.g. back court areas in tenements. This is enforced by the Council under the Dog Fouling (Scotland) Act 2003.
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Reasonable excuses do not include not having anything with which to lift the excrement or not being aware of the dog having fouled. Reasonable excuse relates only to physical impairment, service dogs, or where the person in charge of the dog would be exposed to danger as a result of trying to gain access to where the dog had fouled.
Inverclyde Council's Environmental and Public Protection Service has a number of Enforcement Officers who, as part of their other duties, have and will issue Fixed Penalty Notices of £80 to offenders (rising to £100 if not paid after 28 days). Offenders should note that a further offence would be committed if they refuse to provide their name and address to a designated officer for the purpose of issuing a fixed penalty notice, in addition to the offence of failing to pick up the faeces.
How to report dog fouling
If you have witnessed offences being committed or are experiencing regular difficulties with people allowing their dogs to foul in your neighbourhood, you can contact the Customer Service Centre using the details available in the Contacts section of this page.
Complaints of dog fouling will be directed to Inverclyde Council's street cleaning service and, if appropriate, transferred to the Environmental Enforcement team to establish if there is sufficient detail for further investigation. Anonymous dog fouling complaints will be investigated; however, that investigation will be limited. To allow us to fully investigate your complaint you should, if applicable, provide us with:
- your name, address and if possible a contact telephone number
- the address/location of complaint (please be as specific as possible)
- name and address of person(s) allowing their dog to foul without disposing
- dates/times of incident(s)
We may try and contact you to ask for further information or to provide updates on your complaint; however, this is not always necessary as we will not provide any details of enforcement action taken against other individuals.
Alternatively, you can use the online reporting form or download the Inverclyde Online app, which allows residents and visitors to request services and report a variety of issues to the Council. The links to both of these are available on the Related Links section of this page.
Fixed penalty notices
How to pay
If you have received a fixed penalty notice for dog fouling you can pay using the following methods:
- Pay online: you can pay online by following the link on this page.
- By post: you can send a cheque or postal order payable to "Inverclyde Council" to the Inverclyde Council Customer Service Centre (address on this page) together with the Fixed Penalty Notice receipt and reference number. Please note that you must allow for postage times and that PROOF OF POSTAGE must be obtained.
- By phone: telephone Inverclyde Council Customer Service Centre on 01475 717171 during office hours with your credit or debit card details and quoting the reference number shown on the front of the Fixed Penalty Notice.
How to appeal
The recipient of the Notice may contest the Fixed Penalty Notice by lodging a request for a hearing in writing, retaining proof of postage, within 29 days of the date of issue of the Notice to:
Inverclyde Council, Public Protection, Municipal Buildings, Clyde Square, GREENOCK, PA15 1LY
If a hearing is requested the payment period will be suspended until the decision of the hearing is notified.
Dog fouling enforcement data
Information on dog fouling enforcement for the past 5 financial years is available to download from this page. Please note this dataset is updated on a quarterly basis and will only be accurate to the date of publication, which is marked on the report.