A campaign against dog mess in Porthleven is gathering pace as the town council has thrown its support behind the children of Porthleven School.

The pupils, led by the children on the school council, recently penned an open letter to the community asking people to be more diligent in cleaning up after their dogs, and listing reasons why they felt the issue had to be dealt with.

Now the town council has given the children its backing, and deputy mayor Barbara Powell recently visited the school to discuss the campaign, which will include a logo and posters designed by the pupils, and will receive council funding.

Philippa Mina, a parent who is involved with the campaign, said: "A plea from the council is one thing, a plea from the children is another. They listened to the children."

She added: "It's not about using a stick to beat people, but pricking people's conscience."

Although the council were intending to run their own anti-fouling campaign in the autumn, Phillippa said the open letter has "spurred on" councillors to listen to the children and to do more with the campaign.

She said: "The council are already looking at running their own campaign but they saw real value in what the children are doing."

In their letter, the children describe the problems they have with dog mess, and the effect it has on their everyday lives, including finding it on the beach, being unable to play football at the park, and worrying about how it might make their own pets ill.

One said: "“The posters don’t work. I watched somebody scoop up the mess and put the bag in a hedge," while another said “there are not enough bins and they are never cleaned," and a third added “there are more flies with the mess and they go all over you.”

"We want to change this by making people more aware of the issues," the council wrote. "If there are more bins, people might use them? Why do people just leave it on the floor? We have seen signs saying about fines for people who don’t clear up the mess but are they enforced?"

Philippa said the council has agreed to provide funding for the children's campaign, as has Cornwall Councillor Andrew Wallis, and one of the first stages of the collaboration will be a competition for school children to design a logo.

Picture from Kathy: Philippa Mina, Mrs. Figgins, Dick Powell, Barbara Powell and Bev Plunkett, with Porthleven School council and dogs Frisbee and Bella