The politician in charge of dog mess enforcement at Warwick District Council admits there are not enough resources to combat the problem.

Portfolio holder for safer, healthier and active communities Cllr Jim Sinnott appeared to admit defeat in citing "priorities" when asked if the council had put enough into enforcement but did agree to look into what could be done.

His fellow Warwick Saltisford representative Cllr Katya Dray initially raised the issue having become "dismayed" by the volume of dog mess she sees on pavements.

"I have seen a lot of complaints on Nextdoor and Facebook about it (from) around Warwick," she said. 

"As you know it can spread diseases, it is a very anti-social behaviour from irresponsible dog owners. We could possibly make quite a lot of revenue from this if people are caught in the act. 

"Warwick is a historic town, it has a reputation to keep up and it is not very nice for visitors to come into contact with this mess we are seeing on the streets. What can be done about it?"

Cllr Sinnott said: "Like all other problems we have, it has to be data driven.

"If it is reported, if we know about it, we can maybe take action. We have a dog warden, we have public space protection orders.

"If we have the intelligence and can get the real picture, we can possibly do something about it, do some enforcement. 

"I am not going to make promises because I am sure there are lots of other areas of the district, obviously Warwick is close to my heart but it will be a whole-district approach.

"If you can let us have the details and particular hotspots then I will happily take it forward."

Cllr Andrew Milton took him to task on that response, estimating that there are "approximately 30,000 dogs" in the district and asking: "As I understand it we have one dog warden who works part-time.

"Do you think that is sufficient cover?"

Cllr Sinnott replied: "No, but are we going to get more? Do we need more? There are priorities, but I would like more."

Warwick District Council's website states that its dog warden is responsible for dog fouling, lost or stray dogs, dog-on-dog attacks and dog etiquette in parks.

Cllr Milton asked whether that paucity of manpower had been raised with portfolio holder for resources Cllr Jonathan Chilvers.

"You have just started a conversation between the two of us, I feel," was Cllr Sinnott's response.

Independent councillor Adrian Barton went on to say he had seen "dog poo bags piled up" beside overflowing council bins.

That was picked up by portfolio holder for Cllr Will Roberts because his remit includes bins.

He invited councillors to email him and "fill out the forms we have so the contract services team can get those bins emptied".

"If we need to change the timings of how often they are emptied, we can look at that," he added.