A COUNCIL will continue to provide dog waste bags to the public for free, despite considering charging for the items.

Halstead Town Council discussed the issue in its last meeting.

For many years the council has given out free dog waste bags to the public to encourage people to keep the environment clean and dispose of dog waste properly.

Members of the public can come to the council offices as often as they wish to pick up a packet of 50 bags for nothing.

It was noticed recently that more bags are being used, with the council having to reorder them more frequently.

This is costing the council more than £800 per year.

A spokesman said: “We were thinking that it would be reasonable to ask the public to cover our costs, while still encouraging them to do the right thing environmentally.

“A reasonable cost would be £1 per pack of 50 bags.”

The recommendation was that the council agrees to charge £1 per pack of 50 dog waste bags to cover costs.

However, at the last meeting, councillor Andrew Munday proposed the council should continue to provide dog waste bags free to the public.

This was seconded by David Hume.

There were five in favour and one abstention, and the motion was carried.