At last weeks Parish Council Meeting, two of the three favourite gripes about country village life were raised by concerned members of the public.

Dog mess, traffic speeding in the lanes (more about that later) and litter make up the dreaded trinity.

All are completely avoidable and all take our environment for granted. There are no excuses for any of these misdemeanors and it costs nothing to stop them.

The complaint about dog mess came from regular dog walkers who stated that some of the tracks between Haselbury and North Perrott have become a minefield of dog excrement. There is absolutely no reason for this as the Parish Councils of North Perrott and Haselbury have installed dog bins at both ends of the footpaths, one in THE PARK and the other opposite the North Perrott Cricket Ground. In addition, Somerset Council say that it is perfectly acceptable to bag your dog’s mess and put it in your grey bin.

If the dog bin is full or your route takes you elsewhere, then please take your bags home. Do not decorate the trees, hedges or hide it like a geocashe!

The feeling in the meeting was that some of this probelm is caused by visitors to the village that may not feel they have anywhere convenient to dispose of their dog bags. If you own a let property, Airb&B or similar that allows dogs, please make sure you have clear information about your dog waste policy so that clients are in no doubt about where to dispose of it. Any information should end with the phrase “Please leave our village & countryside as you found it”.

The only solution for this problem is for dog walkers to self-police their community. Please politely call out owner who fail to control their dogs, let them out of their sight or simply refuse to pick up their pet’s mess.

The Countryside code stipulates that dogs that have immediate recall should be kept in view at all times. If your dog has poor recall, then it should be kept on the lead until the owner is suitably trained!

Any dog walker found not to be picking up their dog mess on the private land, epecailly farmland, should expect to be asked to leave and not return.

Please note that North Perrott Fruit Farm is NOT open to public access and anyone walking off the Public Footpath may only do so with permission of the landowner. More information is available at https://parrettbrand.co.uk/walkers-riders/

Thank you for reading and if you are a dog walker, please act responsibly and help solve the problem by educating others.