Dozens of complaints have been raised as dog fouling continues to plague a community.

Enforcement officers have been patrolling dog muck hotspots in Wigton to try to tackle the growing problem.

The focus for the enforcement team in Wigton follows a rise of complaints about dog fouling in the town.

In particular concerns have been raised about the volume of mess around the Speet Gill trail and Stony Banks.

A new public spaces protection order giving the council the authority to issue fines against people who allow their dogs to foul in public without cleaning up afterwards will come into force next week.

In Wigton, there has been at least 40 complaints about the state of the area and the amount of excrement left behind.

The current order expired on Tuesday, October 20 but at the latest meeting of the council, members on Allerdale’s executive agreed to make a new order which will run for the next three years.

The council’s enforcement team is out in the borough each day educating members of the public and enforcing the rules where it takes a zero tolerance approach.

Unhappy with irresponsible dog owners, Councillor Tony Markley, executive member for environmental services, said: “The council takes the issue of dog fouling very seriously and we have a zero tolerance approach to those who fail to clean up after their dog.

“We urge all dog owners to make sure they always pick up their pet’s mess and thank the responsible owners for helping to keep our communities clean.

“We encourage people to report all incidents of dog fouling to us through the myAllerdale mobile app or the ‘report it’ section of our website. The more intelligence we have about areas of concern the better our officers can respond.

“We know that living in attractive places is important to our residents so that’s why making Allerdale ‘cleaner and greener’ is a key priority for us in our 10-year Council Strategy.”

Report fouling through the my Allerdale mobile app.