From publishing pictures of dogs doing their business to spray painting piles of poo, campaigners are considering more militant ways to tackle lazy owners.

Great Notley is the latest area to join Braintree Council’s “Stamp Out Poo” campaign, which uses graphic posters to encourage volunteers to report those not picking up after their pets.

But Braintree Council leader Graham Butland, who is also chairman of Great Notley Parish Council, wants to push the campaign further and is in favour of spray painting the dog piles to highlight the problem.

He saw the idea on a Panorama programme, which Braintree Council also featured in.

He said: “They had a group of volunteers who must have been doing it when they were dog walking.

“I think it is a good idea.

“We did talk at the last parish council meeting of whether we should be taking photos [of the owners] and publishing them in the parish magazine, but it would probably be just pictures of the dogs pooing.”

A few years ago the parish council published a description of a dog owner who did not clean up after their dog.