AS tomorrow is polling day we'll avoid any hint of party politics this week in favour of a suggestion that surely nobody could disagree with.

It's time that dog licences were re-introduced in this country and at a level which reflects the cost of cleaning up after those owners who just don't give a damn.

It's not just a matter of removing muck from parks and paths, although I'd like a coherent explanation of just why non-dog owners have to meet those costs through their council tax bills?

There's also the costs to police and all those innocent people who become victims of an increasing number of attacks by out-of-control canines.

It's more than 20 years since the old licence was abolished to make way for the Dangerous Dogs Act which was going to rid us of those same vicious dogs.

Let's set the new licences at £50 a year per dog.

It wouldn't of course apply to pensioners because they generally seem to clean up after their animals and you don't see elderly ladies being dragged along the street by snarling pitbulls and other dogs which have clearly been bred in a culture of violence and aggression.

I am, by the way, no dog-hater. My son has two of the most aimiable, and dear but dotty spaniels you could wish to meet.

But something has to be done to track down and prosecute the sort of people who can own and then let loose animals like the two rottweilers which attacked and mauled to death a horse in a field in Haslingden at the weekend.

They were clearly killing machines rather than family pets. The owners should be made to share a compound with such dogs for about 12 hours without sticks or chains to keep them at bay.

It won't happen because police had to shoot this savage pair as they posed "a significant threat to public safety."

At this point rottweiler enthusiasts will no doubt become angry and want to point out that their much maligned breed can be loving, friendly and loyal if properly trained.

There's no disagreement about this. But it's the potential problem posed by such strong animals if they have incompetent owners that is the worry.

A badly brought-up Yorkshire terrier is unlikely to ever become a public safety problem.

All dog owners have to accept that they have responsibilities as well as rights and making them pay for the privilege might bring that home to some of those who otherwise couldn't care less.

Any income left over after paying the bills already foisted on the whole of society should be given to places like Bleakholt animal sanctuary which celebrates its 40th anniversary in July in Edenfield, not too far from the field where the horse met its awful death.

True animal-lovers like Olive Lomas, who set up the charity, spend years scrimping and scraping to get enough money together to pick up the pieces left by dog owners who've ignored their responsibilities not just to the rest of us, but to the animals themselves.