Prepare yourselves readers, I fear this one will end up being a bit of a rant.

We all dislike the parking charges in Salisbury, right? I think it's fair to say that the only people who think these charges are reasonable are the people in Trowbridge who set them so high.

Well... you know what else I hate? dog mess on the pavements. 

Have you ever tried to teach a toddler how to weave their way through piles of poop on the way to the shops? I really don't recommend it.

Brown Street in particular, is a nightmare. I'm fairly sure there must be one or two particularly community-spirited residents along that road, who are endlessly shovelling the stuff away - but as soon as they clear it, more comes to take its place. On one morning recently, a walk from Friary Lane into town saw us negotiating our way past 7 piles of dog mess. I'm not even exaggerating. Never have I been so pleased to have left the push chair at home.

According to the Keep Britain Tidy website, one can be fined up to £1000 for allowing their dog to foul a public footpath. 

So here is my idea. Get rid of the parking charges; let people park in Salisbury for free.

Instead, use the CCTV to identify, fine and prosecute dog owners who do not clean up after their dogs. I am fairly sure that if you put a camera at the top of Brown Street and used it for this, you'd make more money per month than the current parking charges.

 

Let the County Council make their money from keeping this city clean and vibrant, rather than from punishing people for not wanting to use Park & Ride.

(Incidentally, another good source of income could come from actually enforcing the 20mph speed limit in the city centre. I'm sure they'd make a fortune fairly quickly from just one or two well-placed speed cameras)

 

I did contemplate taking a photo to go with this piece; I had numerous options to choose from, but decided you probably could live without seeing photos of what you probably step over daily any way.