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Ashton residents complain about ‘disgusting’ state of Lancaster Canal


Alan de Enfield

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Ashton residents complain about ‘disgusting’ state of Lancaster Canal | Blog Preston

 

Ashton-on-Ribble locals have taken to social media to complain about the state of the Lancaster Canal.

Residents in Shelley Road, which backs on to the end of the canal near Aqueduct Street, say they are sick of issues with litter and overflowing dog waste bins.

They claim the situation is getting worse, citing the addition of a burnt out boat that has been left to rot for a number of weeks.

Read more: Boat fire in Ashton-on-Ribble under investigation 

One local who litter picks for Preston Green Volunteers said: “It’s awful at the moment. The dog waste bin by the Rainbow Bridge hasn’t been emptied in ages.

“We need a bin placing nearby so that hopefully the anglers will use it because they leave too many beer cans.”

Another said: “It’s disgusting. The bin opposite my house has got rubbish all over the footpath.”

 

One resident claims the stretch of the canal in Ashton and Ingol isn’t maintained as well as further north near Cottam.

They said: “All available funds seem to be spent on the other end of the canal. If you walk past Haslam Park to the new builds at Cottam it’s immaculate up there.

“The first three dog waste bins you come across are always stuffed full, then the ones after that are emptied regularly.

“We’re just forgotten about.”

 

Speaking to Blog Preston, a Canal and River Trust spokesperson said: “As a charity, we face a constant challenge keeping our canals and river navigations litter-free and in good condition especially at this time of year.

“Due to recent contractual issues due to Covid, the bins haven’t been emptied as often as they should have. Working with our contractors we’re hoping that the issue will be resolved, and the bins will be emptied on a more regular basis.

“We are also working with our boat licence team to remove the remains of the boat from the canal but due to legal reasons we can’t do this without the permission of the owner which we are in discussion with.”

 

Burnt out boat on Lancaster Canal

 

 

Wot boat ?

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36 minutes ago, Grassman said:

Why do they need to seek permission from the owner to remove it? If it is unlicensed then they should remove it and send the owner the bill.

Even if its unlicensed they cant just remove it, there are procedures they have to follow first. If they know who the owner is then it may well have been licenced and removal would be at the owners expense.

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Dog owners do seem to be the major culprits here. If the bin is full, as it obviously is, dozens of them seem to have just piled stuff on top instead of taking it home or to the next bin. And yet, if you ever talk to a dog person, they never, ever do such an antisocial thing - just like their dogs are always well trained, on a lead, never jump at strangers or bark in their gardens. It's always someone else's dog.

That being said, apart from the boat, as mrsmelly says, no reason the outraged locals can't do somethiing about it thenselves. Again, like the dog owners, it's always someone else's job..

 

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Hold the front page! The bins on the short length of towpath between the city and the large park get used more than the ones in the middle of nowhere. 

 

It's obviously too complicated to either empty them more often or install extra or larger bins.

 

I'm only surprised CRT are saying anything at all - I always thought they were council bins.

 

Still, too many people using the bins for dog waste is better than them not bothering to pick up in the first place.

 

 

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On 20/03/2022 at 10:03, Arthur Marshall said:

Dog owners do seem to be the major culprits here. If the bin is full, as it obviously is, dozens of them seem to have just piled stuff on top instead of taking it home or to the next bin. And yet, if you ever talk to a dog person, they never, ever do such an antisocial thing - just like their dogs are always well trained, on a lead, never jump at strangers or bark in their gardens. It's always someone else's dog.

That being said, apart from the boat, as Mrs Melly says, no reason the outraged locals can't do something about it themselves. Again, like the dog owners, it's always someone else's job.

 

Sometimes the bin is full because people put their boat rubbish in it! I have been moored opposite a Poo bin for the last 5 months and often see people putting cans etc in the bin.

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Dog poo DNA testing is the only way of catching the culprits. Several local authorities began doing this in 2015/16 and it needs to be rolled out nationally.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-35378499

 

Make dog DNA testing compulsory. Bring back the dog licence requirement for say between £30-£50 pa and impose a £50+ fine for the culprits, and it would probably be self financing.

Anybody caught without a dog licence has the confiscated and not returned to them until they pay a £100 fine.

 

It wouldn't completely solve the problem and would pose some difficult issues, particularly setting it all up, but it would make the siuation a heck of a lot better. 

 

 

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Dog licences are a good idea but how do make sure dog owners pay to have one? That is partly why they were scrapped all those years ago. It is now a legal requirement for dogs to be microchipped and wear tags but there is no way of reinforcing it. The number of lost/stolen /found dogs who have no means of identification is staggering. As happened before with dog licences, only responsible dog owners would buy one .

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But mentioning the word Charity, as did a CRT spokesperson, may give the impression that CRT is a cap being passed around sort of charity. Looking for not-exactly-warranted sympathy, perhaps. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, haggis said:

Dog licences are a good idea but how do make sure dog owners pay to have one? That is partly why they were scrapped all those years ago. It is now a legal requirement for dogs to be microchipped and wear tags but there is no way of reinforcing it. The number of lost/stolen /found dogs who have no means of identification is staggering. As happened before with dog licences, only responsible dog owners would buy one .

Simple. Legal requirement that any dog found without an up to date chip with full home address and owner info is immediately put down. No fine, no rescue centre - they can concentrate on legally held dogs that an owner can no longer look after. Any complaint about dog misbehavour (nuisance barking etc) gets the dog scanned.

You swat wasps when they are a nuisance. Most dogs are just bigger nuisances.

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12 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

Simple. Legal requirement that any dog found without an up to date chip with full home address and owner info is immediately put down.

 

I hope you mean the owner. It's not the animal's fault. 

 

 

Edited by Higgs
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1 minute ago, Loddon said:

No dog licence or microchip and the dog is destroyed is the simple answer.

It would soon get people to comply.

 

Better to give the dog to a home that is bothered. Have the owners put down, that will do the job quick. 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Loddon said:

No dog licence or microchip and the dog is destroyed is the simple answer.

It would soon get people to comply.

let me say the this subject is about as far from my personal experience as it possibly be, but I do understand that there is a very lucrative trade in certain breeds, all of which is 'under the radar'. One of the reasons why more control etc is warranted is for the safety of humans especially very young or vulnerable.

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2 hours ago, Higgs said:

 

I hope you mean the owner. It's not the animal's fault. 

 

 

Nope. It's not the wasp's fault it annoys the hell out of me, but nobody suggests I should be swatted rather than the wasp. Well, maybe some do,  but it's disproportionate (in my opinion, anyway).

Shooting the owner still leaves the problem of the dog. Shooting the dog (and banning them from future ownership) removes the problem - usually the owners are perfectly nice people, they just think erroneously that their dogs are lovely, when they're not. Dog people usually have no concept of what their dogs are really like or how antisocial they are.

Edited by Arthur Marshall
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11 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:

Nope. It's not the wasp's fault it annoys the hell out of me, but nobody suggests I should be swatted rather than the wasp. Well, maybe some do,  but it's disproportionate (in my opinion, anyway).

Shooting the owner still leaves the problem of the dog. Shooting the dog removes the problem - usually the owners are perfectly nice people, they just think erroneously that their dogs are lovely, when they're not. Dog people vave no concept of what their dogs are really like. But like people with children, really.

 

I think the problem is the owner, who could buy another dog and another. Can't keep putting dogs down. Couldn't we just put the owner in the stocks for a few days and hang those bags there, too. 

 

 

 

 

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9 minutes ago, Higgs said:

 

I think the problem is the owner, who could buy another dog and another. Can't keep putting dogs down. Couldn't we just put the owner in the stocks for a few days and hang those bags there, too. 

 

 

 

 

Trouble is,  you can't do that to the owner, but you can to the dog. It's just an animal. Admittedly, the owner is, too, but there's a difference. Probably. Usually. OK, sometimes.

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1 hour ago, George and Dragon said:

ISTR a slogan from a long time ago: "Every child a wanted child". Perhaps that could be amended to "Every dog a wanted dog".

Much like children, just because they were once wanted, doesn't mean they get looked after properly.

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