BURNLEY council were runners up in a national award this week thanks to their campaign against dog fouling.

The campaign scooped second place in the Best Management of Litter and Waste Award 2002.

Impressionist and star of BBC2 comedy Dead Ringers Jon Culshaw presented principal cleansing services officer Brent Holden, environmental health manager Andrea Lensky, and Burnley's dog warden Barbara Goodwill with their award at a special dinner at the Palace Hotel, Manchester.

The awards were open to 170 councils in the People and Places programme -- a scheme to help local authorities reduce litter.

Burnley Council reached the final after cracking down on stray dogs and fining irresponsible owners.

Council chiefs were determined to take a zero tolerance approach to the problem of dog fouling because of health reasons. Animal faeces can contain a worm called toxocariasis which, when in contact with humans, can lead to blindness.

A series of measures were drawn up which included:

Training council officers to use the law more effectively -- which has resulted in 78 fines being issued over the last year and a half.

Working with the National Canine Defence League on a series of microchipping roadshows.

The council has also worked with NCDL to encourage owners to worm their dog regularly to prevent toxocariasis

The setting up of a Rapid Response Team to shift fouling quickly.

Putting up 60 Keep Britain Tidy posters in the town which featured a real dog poo under the words, "Tough", "No" and "Bull".

Jo Whitaker, ENCAMS regional director for the North West who organised the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, said: "Dog fouling is a massive problem in this country because 4.6million owners allow their pets to foul on public land and it results in 50 people per year contracting toxocariasis.

"The best way to combat it is to both educate owners about the need to act responsibly and clamp down on those who allow their pets to defecate on public land.

"The fact that there has been a 20 per cent decrease in complaints about dog fouling in Burnley since the campaign began, proves that this balance of enforcement and education works."

Having beaten off a number of other councils to reach the final, Burnley was pipped at the post for first prize by South Lanarkshire.