Barmouth mayor says the town is progressing well in its efforts to reduce the amount of dog mess left around, despite last week’s criticism from a regular visitor.

Following last week’s story in the Cambrian News in which Mandie Stewart said she was “appalled at the amount of people who have no respect for Barmouth and its beauty by leaving their dog mess along the prom”, mayor Phillip Hill said he has been monitoring the situation over the last decade and has seen improvements.­

“I have been personally monitoring the dog mess in Barmouth for the last 10 years,” he said.

“I walked the promenade one day when I first started from end to end and counted 96 piles of dog mess. I walked the promenade last year and found less than 20.”

He added: “I placed signs on the prom in alleyways and down by the Wern Mynach and the result has been incredible. The amount of piles of poo reduced dramatically. One day about six months ago I had 38 pictures of dog mess on my phone from a visit. I walked down there recently and there was not one pile."

The deputy mayor of Barmouth, Cllr Katie Price, said that despite issues with dog poo in the town the issue is “getting better as people’s behaviour changes”.

She said: “Unfortunately, dog fouling and littering is a problem in many areas, not just Barmouth. Everyone should respect their surroundings and dog owners have a duty to pick up after their dogs.

Cllr Price added that the town is trying to tackle the issue and are receiving help from people of all ages in the town.

She said: “Barmouth Town Council have increased signage and the local school children ran a project where they designed and made dog waste bag dispensers which were then placed around the town.

“The problem will only be completely solved when people take responsibility for their own actions.”

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