Wardens mark one year

Almost a year after taking on their new duties, the East Renfrewshire wardens' work has been hailed a success.

With two senior wardens, Andy Henderson and Stevie Fox, and 17 trained wardens, they have been in demand with communities across the authority.

Andy, a former a policeman who lives near Rouken Glen park, says the new improved service has been well received by locals.

He told The Extra: "When we took up our new duties on April 1 last year the first thing we wanted to do was get an in-depth knowledge of the area and discover the various hot spots.

"It has went quite smoothly. We all had intensive training before we started and have taken it bit by bit.

"One of the biggest successes has been the way complaints over domestic noise have been handled.

"We know it has worked as we have only issued four fixed penalty notices but have had no other complaints since.

"We can also now attend to incidents much quicker as we are on the ground. So there has been a really good response.

"In some cases people prefer the wardens out at an incident – they will call the wardens before they call the police".

Councillor Mary Montague, ERC's community safety convener, praised the work of the community warden team.

She said: "It has been one of the great success stories and the team has developed the service as an integral part of our approach to community safety.

"Not only have the freed the police up from dealing with issues such as littering, noise and dog fouling but they have made a real impact with communities and have been very much in demand.

"Wardens will continue to approach issues through a mixture of education followed by enforcement where necessary and by working jointly with the police on certain initiatives.

"By discharging their own duties so effectively, they play a major role in boosting community safety across East Ren".

Residents can log a complaint on the warden's ring and report number on 0800 013 0076.

THIS week, dog owners in Clarkston, Busby, Thornliebank and Newton Mearns who let their pooches foul in the streets are being targeted.

The wardens will patrol specific roads in the areas where there have been recent complaints.

And they are warning they will be especially vigilant early in the morning and in evening when most fouling takes place.