Rahima Khan, Conservative candidate for Mayor of Newham, identifies the need to tackle mess on the streets. Rahima says:

We're a nation of dog lovers but not a day goes by without a resident complaining about dog mess. A tiny minority of dog owners don't clean up after their pet and this leaves dirt and disease that cause misery for everyone.

We may not like to talk about it, but we need to take action on dog mess. I will employ 60 Street Environment Officers, equipped with body cameras, to tackle anti-social behaviour including pursuing irresponsible dog owners. These Street Environment Officers will DNA test dog mess so we can track patterns of behaviour, provide more dog mess bins and identify the owners of dogs who refuse to clear up after them, and fine them.

It's not right that all dog owners are tarnished with the same brush as irresponsible owners and the council needs to do all it can to keep our streets dog mess free.

Find out more about Rahima's priorities at Rahima Khan for Mayor of Newham.