A new £100 reminder appears in Saltash’s Peace Garden

Anyone walking a dog through Alexandra Square this week will find a fresh face watching over the flower beds. It sits on a post near the Rotary Club boat planter, and it carries a number that might make a careless owner think twice.

Saltash Town Council’s Service Delivery Team has installed a new dog fouling sign in the Alexandra Square Peace Garden. The council says most dog walkers already do the right thing, but fouling remains a problem the town has not shaken off.

What the sign says

The board pairs a hand-drawn illustration with the official Cornwall Council notice. The drawing shows a dog walker being told to pick up after her pet, with the blunt line “You should pick the dog poo up!” and the warning that “you could get an £100 fine if you don’t clean up”.

Next to it is the formal wording. Under the Public Spaces Protection Order and Section 59 of the Antisocial Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, failing to clean up after your dog can bring a fixed penalty of £100, rising to a maximum penalty of £1,000. The Public Spaces Protection Order sits on Cornwall Council’s website, with the council reachable on 0300 1234 212.

📷Credit: Saltash Town Council

Why the council put it up

Saltash already has dog waste bins in and around the town, and the council says the majority of walkers use them. The trouble is the minority who do not.

“Whilst the majority of dog walkers utilise the dog waste bins we have in and around Saltash, dog fouling is, unfortunately, still an issue,” the council said. It wants the town’s green spaces to be enjoyed by everyone, “particularly during the summer months”, and hopes the new sign works as “a helpful reminder to pick up after your pups and use the dog waste bins”.

The Peace Garden is one of Saltash’s more visible green spaces, sitting beside the war memorial and the parish church, so a summer of dog mess is exactly what the council would rather avoid there.

📷Credit: Saltash Town Council

Following where the money goes

The council is framing the sign as part of a wider push to be open about what it does with council tax. Its Service Delivery Team logs work like this so residents can see how local money is being spent, and the sign in Alexandra Square is one small example.

More of these updates are gathered on the council’s Service Delivery page, which also gives residents a route to say what matters most to them about the services the Town Council provides. The council points anyone wanting the bigger picture towards its Town Council Business Plan.

For now, the message in the Peace Garden is a simple one, drawn out in coloured pencil and backed by a £1,000 ceiling: bag it, and bin it.

📷Credit: Saltash Town Council