A row over cat poo has gone to the high court after a homeowner kicked up a stink about a neighbour’s pets allegedly doing their business in his garden.
Richard Williamson from Bedwas complained to Caerphilly council, saying although cats had a right to roam, they “do not have the right the cause a statutory nuisance or pose an environmental health risk”.
He said he was concerned about the health risks to the family’s newborn baby “who will soon be playing in our garden”, court documents state.
The authority investigated but said the cats were not governed by the same roaming laws as dogs and livestock and they had visited the cats’ owner to check they had access to litter trays.
However, a judge ordered the council to re-look at the complaint, saying it had not considered the nub of the matter – whether the fouling constituted a “statutory nuisance”.
“Nothing in this judgment should be taken as expressing a view one way or the other on the outcome of the redetermination,” wrote Judge Jarman KC, in documents published following the case heard at Cardiff High Court.
Court documents show the plaintiff emailed his complaint to the council in October 2024, saying he had tried to resolve the issue with a neighbour.
“I wake with dread each day wondering if there is yet more cat mess for me to have to clean up,” he wrote.
“As a parent of a newborn who will soon be playing in our garden, I am particularly concerned about the health risks associated with cat faeces.”
The documents show a council official visited the owner of the cats and was “satisfied that there are adequate provisions for the cats” in the property, like litter trays.
And they wrote that cat owners were required to “make considerations of welfare and not letting cats outside when they are accustomed to it, can be detrimental to their welfare”.
In his judgment, the judge said the “essence of the challenge” was that, instead of considering whether the fouling “amounted to deposits which were prejudicial to health” under section 79 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the council focussed on “the manner in which the cats were kept and/or considered the right at common law for cats to roam rather than whether there was a statutory nuisance”.
Richard Williamson and Caerphilly council have been approached for comment.
