Dog walkers will be fined if they don’t carry a bag to scoop up their pet’s mess under new proposals being drawn up by Liverpool council chiefs.

The proposals come as it was revealed Liverpool city council handed out the most fines to people failing to pick up their dog’s mess over the last five years.

City council cabinet member for neighbourhoods, Steve Munby, said it was not a success to hand out the most fines, but it did show the issue is a priority for the council.

However, he said: “We are looking at new enforcement methods because it’s so difficult to actually catch people in the act of letting their dog foul.

“We’re looking at a trial of issuing fines for dog walkers who go out without a bag to put the poop in.

“If you think about it, you have no excuse going out for a walk with your dog and not having a bag with you.

“Let’s be clear, nine out of 10 dog walkers act responsibly, but it’s the 10% who cause a problem. Dog dirt is a threat to children’s health and it sends out the wrong message.”

Cllr Munby said they were still working on the details of the scheme, and would probably ask residents across the city which area should be used for the trial. 

Figures obtained by the BBC from 302 of 348 local authorities showed that 103 councils did not hand out any fines for allowing dogs to foul last year and 48 had not handed any out for five years.

Barnsley council issued the most fixed penalties in the last last year (187), and Liverpool issued the most over the last five years (972).

Nationally the number of fines dished out to people failing to pick up their dog’s mess fell by almost 20% last year.