A bin installation scheme encouraging dog owners to clean up their act has proved a howling success.

But Harlow Council's introduction of dog fouling bins in December is so popular that the facilities are overflowing, and councillors are planning to erect more bins where canine waste can be safely disposed of.

Residents have also been flooding the council with requests for more bins, and in a bid to meet demand, each area committee plans to monitor its needs for dog waste disposal.

A Harlow Council spokeswoman said: 'The bins have been really well used, so much so that some of them have been overflowing. People have been using them more than we anticipated.

'The scheme is proving very popular at the moment and we are very pleased with the way it's going. We are going to monitor the situation over the summer and find out where people are requesting bins.'

In December last year, 108 dog waste bins were installed around the town, including four extra at the town park.

Bins were introduced at all the playgrounds in Harlow, except for Church Langley, where Harlow Council does not own the land. This will be rectified in April when the council takes-over these play areas.

Before the scheme was introduced council employees had been emptying the bins once every 14 days, but since the campaign the Clean It Up was launched, bins have been overflowing and the emptying procedure is being reviewed.

Unfortunatley, vandals damaged some of the bins, ripping the lids from eight, writing graffiti on many and forcibly removing one from the ground so that it was beyond repair.

These have been repaired to the tune of £27O, and the spokeswoman said: 'We have used metal bins rather than plastic bins so they cannot be set alight and they have been very strongly anchored into the ground.'

The council now plans to install bins in the Netteswell Pond area and by the summer, 115 bins should be in place townwide.

Bin demand will be monitored by September when the area committees will meet and decide where in their area dog fouling bins are required.