Oswestry wildlife area 'littered with rubbish and dog mess bags'

The Harlech Road newt ponds were officially opened in 1995 by former London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, a lifelong fan of exotic creatures.

But since the ponds were created they have become a magnet for rubbish.

Now town councillor Les Maguire is pleading to people to respect the important ecological ponds and the streets in general.

He said the problem seemed to be worse in the winter.

Councillor Maguire recently want out to clean up one of the newt ponds after resident raised concerns on the amount of rubbish in the area.

"When I got on site I was appalled by what I found, he said.

"The site is fenced off by railings so I had to climb over to get in but the whole area was littered with cans, bottles, and empty carrier bags. To make matters worse I picked up 21 bags of dog poo that had been thrown into the area of the newt pond just on or around the water's edge.

"By the end of it I collected three bin bags full of rubbish, and there was more that I couldn't reach because it was in the water."

Councillor Maguire said he didn't understand why people went to the effort of picking up dog mess, putting it into bags then chucking the bags into hedges or trees.

"It just takes longer to biodegrade," he said.

"It seems to be particularly worse through the winter, it seems that people think just because it's dark they don't need to pick it up."

Now he is putting out a plea out to all dog owners to do the right thing and pick up after their dogs and take the bags home with them, not throw them in hedges or trees."

"If anyone has a ring door bell or CCTV footage of a dog pooing outside their property and the owner walking away without doing the right thing, the footage can be submitted to the police," he added.