Dog fouling 'chaos' continues as Lib-Dems insist council has failed to issue any fines so far in 2025
Oldham Liberal Democrat Leader Councillor Howard Sykes MBE criticizes the Labour-led council for failing to issue any dog fouling fines in 2025, despite ongoing issues. The council responds by stating their focus is on higher-priority complaints like fly-tipping, and urges residents to report incidents.
Liberal Democrat leader Howard Sykes has slammed Oldham Council’s Labour administration after new figures revealed the authority has not issued a single dog fouling penalty in 2025.
The council failed to issue any Fixed Penalty Notices for dog fouling this year, according to data obtained through a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Liberal Democrats. This comes after Councillor Sykes challenged the Labour leader on the issue at the last Full Council meeting on April 9.
“Labour makes a big show and dance about their PR campaigns like Don’t Trash Oldham. But they fail to back any of it up with action,” Councillor Sykes said. “They can’t even get the basics right. They let the dog fouling protection orders - which allow the council to issue fines - lapse in 2021 and have consistently failed to fix the problem despite the Liberal Democrats raising this at every opportunity over recent years.”
The Liberal Democrat leader warned that parks, green spaces and pavements across the borough are being neglected. “The dog fouling is just one problem in a long list. It makes people feel like the council doesn’t care about local communities. I think most residents would be appalled that something as simple as dog fouling fines is too much to handle for our so-called local leaders,” he said.
Councillor Chris Goodwin, cabinet holder for Don’t Trash Oldham, defended the council’s position: “Dog fouling is of course a problem that no one wants in their community. However, in order to issue a fine for dog fouling then evidence needs to be produced and reported to us. If coun Sykes is seeing this happening he’s welcome to do his bit and submit a report.”
Goodwin explained that the Environmental Enforcement team prioritises issues generating the most complaints, with over 5,700 fly-tipping reports received last year. “We do of course fully understand the concerns about dog fouling and recognise its impact on our parks, streets and public spaces. Furthermore, we strongly urge the minority of dog owners who don’t pick up after their dogs to do the right and responsible thing and pick up after their dogs - it is their responsibility to do so,” he added.
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