Dog orders could be coming to Corby like everywhere else across North Northamptonshire under new proposals

Powers to deter dog owners from allowing their pets to behave anti-socially are set to be rolled out across Corby later this year.

Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) were first introduced nationally in 2014 and Corby is the only area in North Northamptonshire without one for dog control.

North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) inherited them from previous councils when it was established in April 2021 and now wants to introduce one into Corby to ensure consistency.

Since NNC was set up, just six fixed penalty notices (FPNs) have been issued to errant owners but a council officer insisted they were worth using as a deterrent.

Under the powers, owners could be fined £100 for not picking up after their dog, not keeping them on a lead in areas where they are told to and letting the dog run in areas where that is banned.

Catherine Clooney, a team leader in environment protection at NNC, said: “What I’ve found in other areas is when you don’t have a PSPO there’s an increase dramatically [of anti-social behaviour].

"We have had that in terms of street drinking in Wellingborough.

"When we didn’t have one for a bit we had a massive increase in numbers.

“It’s useful to have a PSPO and I think from the town and parish councils, they still want them there.

"I think with signage, it does discourage people…and we do an awful lot of patrols.”

Corby councillor Alison Dalziel told an NNC sustainable communities meeting that she worried the work could be a ‘very costly exercise for very little return’ given so few FPNs have been given out.

But she said dog fouling was ‘disgusting’ on some paths in her ward, with Shakespeare Way sometimes ‘littered’ with dog waste.

She said: “I know we can’t enforce every area all of the time but if you could increase the number of bins it might encourage people to pick it up.

"If you haven’t got a bin in sight the tendency is for people to look the other way and pretend they didn’t see it.”

The proposed PSPO will be presented to NNC’s executive in June and a six-week consultation on a potential roll out in Corby will take place.

It is proposed that the executive then signs off on the final plan in November.

Cllr Harriet Pentland, NNC’s executive member for climate and green environment, said the proposed PSPO is an ‘important document for the local area in making sure that dogs, humans and livestock can live as harmoniously as possible.’