Horses: Manure

(asked on 9th March 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to oblige horse riders clean up manure from footpaths and roads.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 17th March 2021

Local councils have a duty to ensure that public areas are kept clear of litter and refuse. This includes removing horse foul from certain types of land. Local authorities are not required to report on their specific costs related to cleaning horse manure from public roads and footpaths, and Defra has made no assessment of these costs.

Defra does not keep any information on offences or fines for statutory nuisances as local authorities are the main enforcers of the statutory nuisance regime. Individual local authorities may keep records of statutory nuisance offences and fines, but these are not held nationally by Defra.

There is no law requiring riders to pick up after their horses and we have no plans to introduce such a law. Manure from healthy horses is generally free of the pathogens that are found in dog faeces, such as the worm that carries toxocariasis, and there is not enough evidence of widespread nuisance from horse fouling to suggest that special legislative controls are necessary.

Councils already have powers to issue Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs). PSPOs allow councils to deal with a particular nuisance or problem arising in an area which have “a detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality” by imposing conditions on the use of that area.

Those who breach the terms of a PSPO may be prosecuted in a magistrates’ court, which can lead to a criminal record and a fine of up to £1,000 on conviction. Alternatively, the council can issue a fixed penalty notice of up to £100. It is up to each council to decide how and to what extent they use these powers.

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