PROTESTERS braved the rain to call for Wrexham Council to end their contract with Kingdom Services.

On Saturday, campaigners flooded Queens Square in Wrexham town centre in a protest organised by Peter Rourke, the leader of the North Wales Against Kingdom campaign group.

Amongst the 60 people who attended were Plaid Cymru councillors.

Councillor Carrie Harper, Deputy Leader of the Plaid Cymru Group, said: "The protest was about raising awareness.

"We're all concerned about the morally of Kingdom.

"They're not making the streets any cleaner or tackling any of the problems they were bought in for like dog fouling and fly tipping. Most of it is cigarette butts.

"The protest served to put a focus on this and the on-going debate.

"It's just not logical to carry on, we're the last council in North Wales to use them."

A formal report has now been submitted to a scrutiny committee, recommending to serve three months’ notice on its contract, following concerns that Kingdom has failed to tackle the issue of dog fouling.

The task and finish group was established to consider a way forward for litter enforcement in the county, and they found that only 39 fines were handed out for fouling between November 2017 and May 2018, compared to 2,267 for littering.

In a report, they said: “The group has concerns that this contract has not had the expected impact.

“The contract has not achieved one of its primary aims in reducing the incidence of dog fouling.

“There is an opportunity to explore the provision of this service on a collaborative basis with other north Wales councils who are currently considering this approach to service provision.”

The homes and environment scrutiny committee will meet to discuss the proposals on Wednesday, September 12.