A reported rise in dog fouling in Brampton has lead to a parish council applying for a new control order to be introduced.

Brampton Parish Council has made a request to Huntingdonshire District Council to introduce a dog control order for those using Brampton’s Memorial Field.

The proposed new order, which the parish council wants to be placed on the Memorial Field, will mean that all dogs must be kept on leads and has been proposed in response to an apparent rise in dog fouling.

The parish council previously had a bye-law in place that meant dogs must be kept on a lead on the playing field but the bye-law was invalidated by the Government’s laws for public open spaces legislation in 2015.

The parish council has had to apply for a new order from the district council as a result.

However, not everyone is in favour of the proposed control order. A petition has been started by Gina Turnbull to allow dogs to run freely on the memorial field and has already garnered 146 signatures.

In the petition, Ms Turnbull says: “Dogs will foul whether on or off a lead. It is the owners who have the responsibility to clean up after their dog.”

In a statement, Janet Innes-Clarke, on behalf of Brampton Parish Council, said: “The parish council has not taken this decision lightly, and Huntingdonshire District Council has been presented with recent and consistent evidence of uncollected dog litter in order they could decide whether or not to proceed with a dog control order for dogs on a lead.”

Huntingdonshire District Council has now launched a survey to help it determine whether or not the dog fouling is a big enough issue for an order to be introduced.

A spokesman for the district council said: “Huntingdonshire District Council has been approached by Brampton Parish Council with a request to add Brampton Memorial Field to the HDC Public Spaces Protection Order as a designated area which requires dogs to be on leads at all times.

“Once the survey period is over, we intend to provide the parish council with a report in order to allow them to decide whether they wish to proceed with their request. If they choose to do so, HDC will make the final decision over whether any additional controls are necessary. The results of the survey would then be considered alongside the evidence of dog problems and any other relevant information.”

To take part in the survey visit www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Brampton_Dogs.