ENVIRONMENT vandals in North Dorset will find their illegal deeds met with swifter action and more severe penalties, following the rubber-stamping of a new policy.

It condenses into a single policy umbrella issues including fly-tipping, abandoned vehicles, and sites detrimental to an area, graffiti and statutory nuisances.

And it also gives greater powers to parish councils to make dog control orders for the first time covering problems such as canine faeces and keeping animals on a lead.

"It has been proven that there are strong links between antisocial behaviour and the quality of the environment," said a council spokesman.

"Adopting the policy will allow action to be taken against environmental crimes raising the profile of the potential enforcement consequences for acts such as littering, dog fouling and fly tipping.

"Delivery will however be determined by the resources available to undertake enforcement action."

At their meeting to adopt the policy, members of the council's cabinet aired their concerns about how cash-strapped parish councils may find it difficult to finance enforcement.

But members agreed that this worry should be debated at a later date and that the most important thing was to adopt the policy now.

With the concerns of limited resources very much in mind, the policy says that where this is a problem only the most serious offences will be targeted.

As part of the plan the district council says it will build on existing partnerships with groups such as the Clean up Blandford Campaign and the Dorset Campaign against Rural Litter.

"These groups currently play a proactive role in educating children about the importance of the issues raised in this policy," said the civic spokesman.

"The Clean up Blandford Campaign successfully secured Liveability funding to produce a short film about littering aimed at primary schoolchildren."