A MOTHER and son have taken to the streets to highlight – literally – the amount of dog mess in Cuddington.

Rae York and her son Joel York are members of the Environmental Working Group for the Cuddington Neighbourhood Plan project.

One of the issues that has been raised over the last year is dog fouling, particularly along Ash Road.

So earlier this month, Joel and Rae armed themselves with pink spray to help tackle Cuddington’s fouling problem.

Joel, 28, said: “There was over 50 sprayed. When you compare it to other areas it’s probably not that bad, it is quite a long road. It’s not a bad start though, it’s pretty good really.

“People were coming up to us and they were all saying how good a job we were doing, saying it was about time someone did something.”

For several years volunteers around the country, under the advice of local councils, have taken to the streets to spray dog mess with pink dye, which is chalk based, completely bio degradable and non-toxic.

The colourful initiative is backed by Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC).

So under their guidance, after the dog mess has been sprayed CWAC send down members of Street Scene to clean up the highlighted poo.

Joel thought he would be the perfect fit for the project, given that he sports bright pink hair.

“I dyed it before I went on holiday last year,” Joel said.

“When the pink poo campaign started I thought it would be good to be able to associate it with me because I have pink hair.”

Joel and his mum – who organises litter picks around the village – first went out on patrol last autumn, but to their surprise the streets were free from dog mess, so they decided to kick-start the initiative in the New Year.

Joel said: “The main issue, particularly with the schools, is that kids walking to school have absolutely no means to clean it. It’s also very unhygienic.”

The duo have been on patrol twice this month, and intend to carry on their patrols targeting areas highlighted by members of the community.