COUNCILLORS were “appalled” to hear that a request had been received asking for permission to allow dog owners to exercise their pets in two play areas in Wellington.

Members of Wellington Town Council’s environment committee could not believe what they were being asked at their meeting on June 18.

The council’s open spaces manager, Darren Hill, said a request had been made for dogs to be exercised in the Chestnut Close and Corner Close play areas.

Cllr Lithgow has previously been vocal about his huge dislike of people who fail to pick up the dog poo mess left behind by their pets.

He spoke about a front page headline in the Wellington Weekly News in May last year about ongoing dog mess problems in the town.

“It really does annoy me that people are not more responsible about it,” he said at the time. “I don’t want to get on a rant about it, but the problems are getting worse.”

He said he was most annoyed when people bagged up dog mess, but then threw the bag into a tree or bush.

Cllr Mark Lithgow said: “I am totally opposed to letting dogs in children’s play areas even if they aren’t being used.

“We live in a beautiful part of the country with lots of paths and fields and plenty of areas for dogs to be exercised. I’m dead against this.”

The mayor, Cllr Janet Lloyd, questioned: “Why would people want to exercise their dogs in a children’s play area in the first place?”

The request was soundly turned down by councillors with them concerned about health and safety issues around dogs being allowed in children’s play areas.

But committee chairman, Cllr Chris Booth, said: “Perhaps we could look at putting something together to promote good places locally for people to exercise their dogs?”