A Harrogate woman has spoken of her distress when a visit to her five-year-old daughter’s grave was interrupted by a dog let off its lead to defecate among the headstones.

Joanne Bolton’s daughter Charlotte died of meningitis 25 years ago and is buried in Grove Road cemetery. Ms Bolton’s mother is also buried there.

She was visiting on Sunday when a woman entered the cemetery, closed the gates and let her dog off its lead to exercise. The large cemetery is surrounded by a wall so dogs are unable to escape when the gates are closed.

The dog owner then sat on the bench and let her Terrier defecate freely around the cemetery, which includes the graves of 37 former soldiers. Ms Bolton said:

“I’m disappointed that society has sunk to this level to have no respect for loved ones’ final resting places.”

Grove Road cemetery

Guide dogs are the only dogs permitted in Harrogate Borough Council cemeteries.

Ms Bolton, who owns a dog herself, said she would have no problem with people walking their pets on leads around the perimeter path but said it was completely unacceptable to allow animals to roam freely.

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She contacted the council about the incident and received a prompt reply confirming dogs weren’t allowed inside cemeteries and that ‘no dogs’ signs had been erected.

The email added the council’s dog wardens had patrolled the area but it was unable to use CCTV to capture culprits because it would encroach on the privacy of visitors.

‘Always the same disrespectful people’

A post by Ms Bolton on a Harrogate Facebook group attracted many sympathetic comments.

One woman said there were five dogs in the cemetery when she went to pay her respects. Another said the incident gave dog owners a bad name and a third person, who lives next door to the graveyard, said they see about 25 dogs daily in the cemetery. They added:

“It’s always the same disrespectful people daily. I have complained to the council but nothing gets done.

But one woman said the presence of dogs and dog walkers had deterred drug dealers from using the site.

Harrogate Borough Council has revealed it hasn’t issued any fines in the last 12 months for failing to clean up dog mess.

The council’s dog warden service urged people to report dog mess last week. In a post on Facebook, it said there had been “an increase in dog fouling across the whole district”, especially in Harlow Hill.

It added the Otley Road area around Beckwith Road, Nursery Lane and the ginnel from the Shepherd’s Dog Pub to the allotments was “particularly bad”.

The council can issue fixed penalty notices of up to £80 for dog fouling. However, it struggles to catch anyone in the act.

This week it told the Stray Ferret it had not issued any fines for dog fouling in the last year or the previous year either.

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A council spokesperson said:

“Dealing with the issue of dog fouling is very resource intensive and requires us having people in the right place at the right time to catch someone committing an offence within the 505 square miles of the Harrogate district.

“We are very fortunate that the vast majority of people who live here or come to visit take considerable pride in the appearance of the area. Because of this they do the right thing and pick up after their dog and dispose of it responsibly.

“Unfortunately, we have seen an increase in in particular areas and would encourage residents witnessing someone not picking up after their dog to report it to us so we can focus our patrols to try and prevent it from happening.”

Harrogate Borough Council has urged residents to report dog fouling to its dog warden team.

It comes after an increase in reports of dog owners not picking up after their pets around Harlow Hill.

The council’s dog warden service said in a post on Facebook that the Otley Road area around Beckwith Road, Nursery Lane and the ginnel from the Shepherd’s Dog Pub to the allotments was “particularly bad”.

It urged people to report anyone seen using the same route regularly who does not pick up their dog’s mess, either by getting in touch on its website or by calling 01423 500600.

The statement said:

“Without this information it makes it harder to focus patrols and make a difference.”

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The council can issue fixed penalty notices of up to £80 for dog fouling. However, an FOI request submitted by the Stray Ferret last year revealed the council had issued no fines for dog fouling in the preceding 12 months.

It looks after more than 250 dog waste bins across the district.

Harrogate Borough Council has revealed it hasn’t issued any fines in the last year to people who drop litter or allow their dogs to foul in public.

The two issues have been hot topics recently.

The Stray has been a litter hotspot over the past year with takeaway boxes, leftover food, beer bottles and cans frequently discarded.

The Pinewoods Conservation Group has also highlighted on social media the problem of empty plastic bottles and other waste being left in the woodland.

Meanwhile, people have complained about an increase in dog owners leaving poo bags tied to trees, dumped in bushes or even thrown into private gardens.

A spokesperson from Pinewoods Conservation Group said:

“Litter has always been a major issue for us but seems to have worsened over the last 12 months.

“We often report specific areas of concern to the council but also have a number of volunteers who continue to work hard collecting litter from within and around The Pinewoods.

“Seeing large number dog waste left in plastic bags is specifically disappointing but a regular sight along the main footpaths. We would certainly encourage more enforcement of the rules with fines being applied where necessary. Without this it is difficult to see the situation improving.”

The council can issue fixed penalty notices of £100 for littering and up to £80 for dog fouling.

But a council spokeswoman told the Stray Ferret littering and dog fouling were “not a major problem” in the district.

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Yorkshire Live reported last week that Harrogate Borough Council was one of two councils in North Yorkshire that had not issued any fines for littering in two years.

A council spokeswoman said:

“The fact we’ve not issued any fines in the last 12 months is because littering and dog fouling is not a major problem and we have dedicated teams of people who keep the Harrogate district clean and tidy.

“Dedicating officers to deal with this issue is very resource intensive, and requires us having people in the right place at the right time to catch someone committing an offence within the 505 square miles of the district.

“We are very fortunate that the vast majority of people who live here or come to visit take considerable pride in the appearance of the area. Because of this they do the right thing and pick up after their dog, don’t drop litter and dispose of their waste responsibly.”