An anti-dog mess campaign costing Bradford Council thousands of pounds has fallen foul of village councillors.

The awareness campaign, giving away T-shirts and badges to Craven ward schoolchildren, was labelled “nonsense” and “complete overkill” by former Addingham Parish Council chairman Alison Widdup.

The £4,000 cost – from various pots within Keighley Area Committee’s budget – came under scrutiny from village councillors when ward councillor Michael Kelly and a Bradford Council officer gave a presentation to the village council last Wednesday.

The parish council does not plan to follow the lead of Steeton and Eastburn and Silsden’s local councils by contributing its own cash to the initiative.

Coun Kelly (Con, Craven) and officer Liz Horn offered promotional material, including orange T-shirts bearing the campaign slogan, to all the village councillors.

But they were told to give them to the schools instead.

Coun Widdup said: “In the current economic climate, why in God’s name is so much money being spent on dog fouling? It’s an absolute disgrace, public money should not be spent on promotional material and T-shirts.

“There are far more important areas that money could be being spent on than this nonsense.”

The scheme aims to educate primary school children about the nuisance and health risks of failing to clean up dog dirt, reinforcing its slogan ‘Bag it, tie it, bin it’.

Coun Kelly, who wore one of the orange T-shirts while showing a video presentation to Addingham councillors, defended the spending.

He told Coun Widdup he was surprised by her criticism, as dog fouling was one of the commonest complaints of Craven ward residents.

“It’s the biggest issue that’s raised at every neighbourhood forum meeting,” he said.

The parish council heard that the public cost of the promotional scheme was £4,000.

Liz Horn, from Bradford Council’s Keighley area co-ordinator’s office, told parish councillors that the money came from several different Keighley area funding pots.

As well as tackling a potential health hazard and aiming to clean up public places, the scheme meets national curriculum criteria in primary schools for promoting citizenship and personal development in youngsters.

She said there had been positive feedback, and councillors in other parishes had taken an active part in the scheme, attending awareness days in the schools.

But parish councillors remained sceptical that increasing awareness among children of dog fouling problems would stop irresponsible dog owners.

Coun Widdup claimed the issue of dog fouling may have been prioritised at public meetings because residents had raised the matter but did not have more pressing issues they wished to complain about.

Chairman Councillor Ian Taylor said the parish council had already agreed that it should not be contributing funds to the campaign.

The Bradford Council campaign is set to visit Addingham Primary School on January 17.