More than 406 complaints about dog dirt have been lodged with Wirral Council since last April - and Seacombe, Bidston and St James, Liscard, Birkenhead and Tranmere have been identified as the borough’s “foulest” areas.

Wardens have issued 137 fixed penalty notices for dog fouling; 20 for litter offences and 50 written warnings.

One offender was taken to court and was fined £100 and ordered to pay £175 court costs.

Children are particularly vulnerable to contracting the infection toxocariasis from dog dirt.

Wirral Council’s ten-strong dog fouling enforcement team uses bicycles, local authority vehicles and public transport to travel across the peninsula.

On patrol they have identified 6,073 incidents needing action, including safety issues, exposed wires on lampposts, uneven pavements, fly tipping , graffiti and criminal damage.

The team identified more than 730 instances of graffiti, of which 119 were so offensive they had to be removed on the same day.

The also brought to the attention of the local authority technical services department 1832 tripping hazards and 647 instances of foothpath obstruction.

Upton, Clatterbridge, Leasowe and Moreton East, Prenton, Hoylake and Meols were also identified as problem areas. Areas with the lowest recorded number of dog fouling complaints included Heswall, West Kirby and Thurstaston, Claughton and Bebington.

Wirral Council’s sustainable communities overview and scrutiny committee were told at last week’s meeting that the dog fouling team could be cut from 10 to two as part of the council’s economy measures.

Councillors were told that if the measure was agreed it could have an impact on the level of dog fouling enforcement in the borough.

A report suggests, however, that the situation could be mitigated by the use of other streetscene-based officers taking on multi-tasking duties.