CHILDREN are tackling dog fouling in a South Lakeland village by making handmade dispenser bottles for residents and visitors to use.

Boys and girls from Burneside have been spending their half term holiday helping out the community in a bid to try to tackle the 'messy' problem. The bottles contain plastic bags for dog owners to use to clean up after their pets.

Resident Gayle Howarth, the chair of the Burneside Residents' Parish Association (BRPA), said dog owners were not picking up the poop after their dog and were leaving a "horrible" trail for residents to go through.

"There's a real hot spot near the church and school," she said. "The paths are littered with dog poop and more children are getting caught up in the mess on their way to school."

Mrs Howarth, who leads a children's holiday club along with Mandi Easton at Burneside Cricket Club, was inspired to introduce the initiative to the children and their mums after watching an online video featuring a girl from Somerset who said she took it upon herself to try and solve the problem in her community.

"By making these dispensers we will find out whether it makes a difference or not," said Mrs Howarth. "It's just a little change to the area but hopefully a step forward in tackling this situation.

"South Lakeland District Council has installed more bins so that people don't leave their dog's droppings behind but it's not been that successful."

The BRPA kid's club, held every Wednesday during the school holidays, had an arts and craft session to try and get the children on board with the concept and raise awareness.

"You get kids asking their parents for pets and wanting a dog and hopefully through these dispensers we are showing them that as an owner you have a responsibility and one of the roles of looking after your pooch is to pick up after them," said Mrs Howarth.

She added it did not cost much for the dispensers to be made as many families donated bottles and more than 15,000 bags were collected.

"Hopefully it will reach a wider audience," she said. "It would be great if this idea took off across the Lake District too rather than relying on residents to pick up after other people's dogs."