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Comment by sarah rushton-read on January 18, 2010 at 4:36pm

I have recently moved from Brighton to Edinburgh and was surprised to find that there is absolutely no culture here for owners to clear up their own dog's mess. In Brighton we have dog mess bins for owners to deposit their dogs output, people are encouraged to use them and a culture has developed where dog fouling and littering are frowned upon by everyone.

I regularly walk from Portobello to Leith - along the sea front - and have been surprised and appalled at the filth I see on that journey, not only from dog shit but from the rubbish discarded on the road or that is blown up from the tip at Seafield.

All along the seafront, along the path that runs alongside of the sewage plant and on the grass verges that run down to the sea and railway line there is tons of rubbish - its hideous. I also walk across Leith Links and there is a huge amount of dog deposits all along the paths and pavements. Perhaps a pressure group should be formed locally to encourage the council to provide bins for dog deposits and maybe people with dogs could be given free handouts of dog pooh bags and sold the benefits of a cleaner environment for all.

Changing behaviour can be a long and drawn out process. It always happens faster if the benefits of a cleaner environment are the focus rather than pushing to punish the perpetrators. I would be happy to work on any initiative to clean up the area. Ideally we would need to start with a public awareness campaign - maybe get kids and their parents to march across the links with placards during popular dog walking times?

Comment by Greener Leith on August 6, 2009 at 1:44pm

Hi Andy, I know I sent you an email before about what Greener Leith is doing about Dog Fouling. I thought you might also want to join the 'Leith Links Improvement' Group on this site too, as that's where people will post questions about improvements to the Links - and I thought you might want to be involved. Here's the link: http://greenerleith.ning.com/group/leithlinks