We recently had a comment through the web site on the above topic so I’m posting the response sent to the individual

What irresponsible dog walkers do

Whilst you might complain about the lack of dog bins on Rawcliffe Meadows to the City Council it won’t make any difference. As I stated in a letter to The Press the other week Rawcliffe Meadows is not owned, funded or in any way supported by the Council. It has been managed by a small group of volunteers for over twenty years who gained access to the site for the public by agreeing to manage it for wildlife. It is actually treated by DEFRA as an agricultural site i.e. a farm.

If you wish to walk a dog on the site please behave responsibly and take the droppings away with you and leave them at the Park & Ride, which is owned and managed by the Council as a ‘country park’. For your information the Council charge for installing and emptying the bins,  as I know from the Clifton Backies Management Board, which I am Vice-Chair of, and it is a substantial amount for the provision and emptying of bins there, and Rawcliffe Meadows cannot afford to pay for that when it is not funded by dog walkers.

I could say you are lucky to have such a nice site to walk your dog, and so should reciprocate by not creating additional work for the volunteers by leaving bags of droppings on the site, if you want to have a dog, clearing up after is surely your responsibility and not ours. As things go with the Council I don’t believe they are installing new bins anywhere and with the current cuts are likely to be reducing the service further.

Please take your dog’s droppings away with you – it’s not pleasant for children or people using wheelchairs or pushchairs to come in contact with them, neither is it pleasant to stand in them when managing the site, as I frequently end up doing…