There is fury in a once-beautiful seaside town as locals fume it’s now “full of poo”.
Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset has been voted one of the worst seaside towns in Britain by Which?. It got a 49 percent visitor score.
Residents have said they were hardly surprised by the results, describing how the town is becoming a ghost town due to dog poo, graffiti and a general rundown feel.
The sea quality got the lowest possible rating. And those brave enough to venture into the brown waters have a view of the eyesore nuclear plant 10 miles from shore.
Locals’ main gripe is the amount of dog poo in the town’s public spaces, despite them being banned from the beach during the summer.
One resident, a man in his 20s who works at a vape shop, told the Sun: “I was waiting for a bus when I saw a little kid trip and face-plant straight onto the dog poo.
“I wasn’t surprised. There’s so much dog muck around the town that it’s hard to avoid. There must be so many kids – and adults – treading in it because they haven’t seen it. It’s so unhygienic.”
Rather than scoop up the foul faeces, many dog owners choose to leave it in public spaces – to the fury of locals.
The council, instead of cleaning up the mess, has launched a new policy of circling the dog poo with bright orange paint. The local authority hopes owners will be shamed into disposing of the filth themselves as a result. But locals say the new initiative isn’t working.
One said: “It must take just as long to spray paint around it as it would to simply pop it in a doggy back and throw in a bin.
“This policy is crazy. If an owner can’t be bothered to clear their own dog’s mess up, why are they going to care that it’s been ringed with orange paint.
“These owners are totally irresponsible and they’ve helped drag the town to the top of the worst seaside town in Britain league table. They should be ashamed of themselves.”
A spokesperson for Somerset Council, addressing the dog mess issue, said: “Like everywhere nationwide, it is the responsibility of every dog owner to pick up after their dog.
“The dog bins in Burnham on Sea are emptied on a daily basis. Somerset Council’s dog warden regularly patrols in Burnham and we have prosecuted irresponsible dog owners.”
The council added that the pier is a “privately owned facility”.