Burnham-on-Crouch Town Council has decided to stop paying for 'TruCam' speed gun patrols by council officers and spend the money saved on dealing with dog fouling instead.

The council has £20,200 budgeted for the year's spending on services provided by Maldon District Council's (MDC) community engagement team. At a meeting of the town council last night (Tuesday, 30 March) there was a heated debate over what percentage of the money should be spent on five different services provided by the MDC team, including:

• school parking patrols

• anti-social behaviour patrols

• Tru Cam speed camera services.

On a split vote, with Mayor, Councillor Ron Pratt using his casting vote to decide the issue, the meeting decided to remove the speed camera services from the list and use the extra money for dog fouling patrols, which spray the offensive deposits red before they are cleared away in an attempt to highlight areas where the problem needs most attention.

The vote means that £8, 040 a year will be spent on the dogs' mess problem in the town, with £4, 040 going to each of the other three services.

The decision came after a town council working group came up with the proposals to make a firm decision on how money should be split between the different priorities.

Councillor Bob Calver, who was part of the group, said: "Our view is that speeding is something the police should be dealing with. The police not doing it is not a reason for us to pay for it."

However, Councillor Wendy Stamp, who voted against removing Tru Cam services from the list and proposed that the budget be divided equally between all five services, said: "It was to fill the gap because the police weren't doing it.

"I can't believe this council wants to spend £8, 080 a year on dog poo."