BELFAST City Council has opted not to increase fines for dog fouling, instead ordering another report to be prepared on the issue.

The proposal would have seen fines for dog fouling increased to £200 from £80 for those caught not picking up after their pets.

But at the full monthly Council meeting it was decided the motion would return to committee after Sinn Féin disagreed with upping the fines, claiming the increased fines would result in all signage in the city having to be updated at a potential cost of £25 per sign. The party suggested the money would be better spent on increasing the number of wardens and the resources available to them. At present there are 18 dog wardens in Belfast.

Sinn Féin's Councillor Matt Garrett argued that the money should be spent on increasing the number of bins available as well as better education around the issue of dog fouling – which has become a huge problem across the city in recent years.

Councillor Garrett argued that the city's dog wardens agreed that raising fines was not the way forward and he called for more resources to support them.

The SDLP's Councillor Gary McKeown expressed disappointment with the decision.

"We should be doing the things we can do now to ensure communities have the reassurance that the Council has got their back on this," he said. "I get regular complaints from the public who are sick and tired of people having no respect for their own community and let their dogs foul everywhere. It's disgusting and not acceptable and we have something we can do right here, now."

Councillor Michael Collins from People Before Profit agreed that he would like to see the motion brought back for more discussion and would like to further look into the provision of more bins and also a scheme which would provide free dog waste bags, citing a similar scheme in Lisburn.