VOLUNTEERS at a community centre in a Wrexham village have issued a plea following issues with dog fouling. 

The Gresford Trust Memorial Hall volunteers say the problem of dogs fouling on the pitches in the village has been an issue for several years but has gotten worse in the last six weeks. 

The trust is responsible for two football pitches, used by reserve teams and youth teams as well as a cricket pitch used in the summer. 

Despite efforts to reason with residents, who continue to let dogs run off the lead across the grounds and foul on the pitches, there have been no improvements. 

Signs had been printed encouraging dog owners to keep pets on leads whilst on the Trust's property, but they were quickly broken and thrown across the pitches, leaving volunteers 'appalled'. 

The Trust's Chairman, Ian Gibson said: "The issue is dogs are running off their leads and fouling on the pitches, but the owners are none the wiser as they're not paying attention to what's going on. 

"It's ridiculous, we've made an effort to reason but it seems people feel the rules don't apply to them. 

"We have no discretion over the issue, it's a Trust rule that dogs cannot run freely on the grounds. We're doing our best to keep the facilities open and safe."

When quizzed on what matters the Trust could take to fix the issue, Mr Gibson revealed there wasn't a lot they could do. 

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He added: "There is a public footpath through part of the area, so we can't block anything off. 

"We have no issues with dogs and owners walking through here, we just ask them to have some understanding and to keep them on their leads. 

"If we don't get compliance, I don't know where we go. 

"There were talks of banning dogs years ago, but it didn't happen thankfully. We really wouldn't want it to come to that and I'm not sure I could approve of it, but there's not many other options."