PEOPLE should not act outside of the law; a councillor has said after human excrement is found on the streets of a Flintshire town.

At their monthly meeting, Cllr Elwyn Jones of Shotton town council, said he was ‘disgusted’ to find the waste bins overflowing and human excrement smeared on the floor near Crystal Bingo.

He said: “It’s disgusting.

“It’s not very nice to be left there why aren’t police tackling these things with the Vagrancy Act. This shouldn’t be happening in our town, it’s an environmental health issue, it shouldn’t be allowed to happen. Streetscene officers clean it up but it’s not a very nice job for them. It’s wrong.

“It’s a health hazard, it shouldn’t be that people can act outside the law. We all have to obey the law. We have got people using the backs as toilets.”

Wayne Jones of Streetscene reassured members that the skip will be removed, after countless complaints of overflowing rubbish.

Cllr Angela Phillips asked if the human excrement was being left by the town’s homeless and asked for an update on the new night shelter in Queensferry.

Cllr Sean Bibby added: “It has been open when SWEP has been triggered, a number of individuals have been going there. We are hoping all loose ends will be tied up very soon and then it will be open on a permanent basis.”

Cllr Phillips added that if these people were offered help and they refused, it would then come under the Vagrancy Act.

Cllr Ron Davies said: “Every town and city is the same. A lot of people in Chester are refusing to use the facility provided by the council.

“I think Flintshire has done really well to do it.”

Cllr Gary Cooper proposed the council writes to the Public Health Authority expressing their concerns due to instances reoccurring across the town.

He said: “We clamp down on dog owners it’s about time we clamp down on people abusing this facility. It’s health hazard. I propose we write to the Public Health Authority raising these issues.

“Month on month we discuss it, yet nothing is happening.”

Cllr Rob Dowie added: “I’m really disappointed. It’s a national issue it’s not to do with Shotton. It should be levelled at government not for Flintshire Council to be born with the problem.

“It’s really nasty, we all want someone to have somewhere to live and all that, I think it’s a sign of the times I’m sorry to say.”

Cllr Angela Phillips asked if the situation was better when the town had a public lavatory, until they closed due to anti-social behaviour.

Clerk Susan Cartwright said the reason the toilets were demolished was because they were ‘being abused by people and drug users’ and on one instance a person was attacked.