Last updated 19:27, Thursday, 20 November 2008

A FAVOURITE walk between Cockermouth town centre and its housing estates has been described as an open sewer.

Cockermouth Town Council this week discussed the state of the Cockermouth Greenway – the old railway line route between the fire headquarters and Lorton Road cemetery – which is being used as a dog toilet.

The path, which is also a cycleway, is well used as a quick route into the town by shoppers as well as children.

Sally Elliott, of Sunscales Avenue, said in a letter to Allerdale council: “In the three years that I have walked this route, sometimes three times a day, I have only once seen a street cleaning machine on it and never a man with a brush or a bin bag.

“I have once seen a community police officer but never seen a dog warden or an environmental health officer.”

Mrs Elliott said that a poop scoop bin on the old railway bridge was burned and destroyed and had not been replaced. It was festooned with stinking bags of dog mess.

She continued: “The cycle-way is an open sewer of a dog toilet and my feet and pram wheels are covered in excrement every day as I attempt to slalom the mess.”

Mrs Elliott said that she had received a positive response back from both the borough and town council.

At a town council meeting on Wednesday, Coun Alan Smith said: “It has been like this for a number of years and the problem is getting worse.

“The dog mess is appearing more frequently all over the place and it is the responsibility of dog owners to clean up.”

Coun Sam Standage said: “We only have two environmental wardens and there are not enough resources to keep an eye on it all the time.

“They manage to do a good job and spend a lot of time with limited resources, and do try to keep the dog mess down.

“I have arranged a meeting to try to get other resources and alleviate the problem.”

Coun Eric Nicholson suggested concrete bins to thwart vandalism.

A spokesman for Allerdale council said: “The council will replace the fire-damaged bin in the next few days. The council has experienced vandalism in this location on a regular basis and has replaced the bin on a number of occasions.

“The council's environmental wardens will be conducting enforcement patrols in the area and handing out fixed penalty fines to anyone failing to clean up after their dog.”