'The daftest thing I've seen in 20 years' - Council 'made a mess' of no dog fouling sign

Councillor Joan McTigue says Middlesbrough Council made a mess of the “no fouling” sign on Kirkham Row, Beechwood. She asserts the sign is too small, too high from the ground and in the wrong place.

She said: “It’s the daftest thing I’ve seen in 20 years. Fine for anybody who’s 10ft tall. I don’t know any residents who are 10ft tall. You need binoculars to read it.

“That’s at least 10ft from the ground, impossible to read, pointless and the usual waste of our money. It’s taken me months to get a sign here and that’s the best they can offer. In future I’ll do the job myself.”

She said of the dog fouling on the street: “It’s been a problem for about six to eight months. It was worst I’ve seen. There were six or seven pile of it on one side of the road. I’ve counted it myself. I asked for it all to be cleaned up and it wasn’t done. I asked it to go on the left hand side where all the dog fouling is.”

Eventually a small sign was put up saying “no fouling” and “offenders will be prosecuted”, but on the other side of the road, and at a high elevation.

Coun McTigue said at first she could not spot the sign: “They kept saying, ‘it’s there’. I couldn’t see it, I went up and down, but you don’t look up in the sky for a road sign. We’ve got dog fouling signs that nobody can see.”

She said the sign had not solved the dog-fouling problem: “It definitely hasn’t stopped it.”

One resident commented on the street: “Is that what it says? I haven’t got my binoculars out.”

Dog walker Michelle Gill said: “I can’t see it, can you? I didn’t even know it was there until Joan told me.”

A council spokesman said: “The council responded to a request for a sign in the area and arranged for it to be installed. Concerns relating to dog fouling can by reported online at www.middlesbrough.gov.uk/report or by calling 01642 726001.”