Foul play... dog mess row leaves village divided

A DOG mess row has broken out in the birthplace of Sir Walter Raleigh after the parish council accused the village green society of being a “hate group” in a disagreement over a befouled field.

The dispute in East Budleigh in Devon centres on a decision made by the parish council to build a fence around a football pitch to stop games being halted due to the amount of dog muck.

But the Friends of East Budleigh Recreation Ground have claimed the decision has divided the community like never before and they are bewildered by the decision. The parish council says they will not engage with the group at all as a collective as they consider them a “hate group”.

The council said: “Some members of this group have been running a vicious hate campaign against the parish council and as a result we won’t talk to them as we consider them to be a hate group.

“East Budleigh has been particularly bad for dog mess and we have had a number of complaints and last season several football games had to be stopped to clear up the mess. The idea is to make it a safe area and free from dog mess for everyone – not just the football club.

“We are doing what we think is best but we have been subjected to a vicious hate campaign as a result by some members of the Friends of East Budleigh Recreation Ground group.”

East Budleigh FC, which plays in Division Two of the Devon & Exeter League – the 12th level of English football – has endured years of disruptions

‘We are doing what we think is best but we have been subjected to a vicious hate campaign’

on the public green space and has continually requested a barrier.

But Ray Marrs, from the Friends of East Budleigh Recreation Ground, said there was no problem. He added: “Lots of people use the field to walk their dogs on and none of us have ever noticed a problem with dog mess on the pitch at all. On behalf of residents of East Budleigh, we have become disillusioned by the parish council’s actions that have directly resulted in setting one part of the community against the other.”