Wandsworth Council celebrated the official launch on one of its estates of its ground-breaking dog microchipping initiative.
Residents, councillors and representatives of the RSPCA and Battersea Dogs & Cats Home were present to celebrate the announcement and show their continued support for the project.
The scheme means that, from January 2009, all council tenants and leaseholders must get their dogs chipped as part of their tenancy agreement.
Mark Callis, head of Wandsworth’s dog control unit, said that the process of microchipping a dog was quick and absolutely painless. A microchip the size of a grain of rice is painlessly inserted into the muscle between the dog's shoulder blades. The whole procedure takes just a few seconds.
There are a wide range of benefits for dog owners whose pets are chipped. If a dog is lost or stolen then its owners can easily be traced if it has been chipped.
The official launch of the microchipping scheme coincides with the unveiling of a Parliamentary private members bill, that would extend town hall powers in tackling dangerous dogs. Liberal Democrat peer Lord Redesdale is proposing the bill in the House of Lords.
Wandsworth has the only council member on the Parliamentary Dangerous Dogs Act Study Group, which has been devising ways of taking more effective action against the spiralling number of nuisance dogs on the streets. The group has suggested a raft of new powers that should be made available to councils and the police.
Doncaster Council tenants can now report non- emergency repairs at the touch of a button. St Leger Homes of Doncaster - the organisation that manages just over 21,000 properties for Doncaster Council - introduced reporting repairs online.
Tenants log onto the St Leger Homes website at www.stlegerhomes.co.uk, click on the orange 'report a repair' icon and on that page click on report a repair online. Tenants then have two options. They can either complete an online form or, if they have registered for a password, use an online diagnostic tool to report their repair. Either way the details go straight through to the Company's repairs contact centre, where a member of staff will ring the tenant to arrange for the repair to be carried out in accordance with priority.
Jackie Linacre, Customer Services Manager at the repair centre, said:
"This is another way tenants can report any repairs needed to their property. Some tenants prefer to send us the details electronically, while others prefer to phone us, visit one of our offices or write to us.
Our aim is to cater for all of our tenants' needs and to carry out their repairs quickly and efficiently."
Each year, St Leger Homes' Repairs Contact Centre receives around 117,000 calls. In partnership with Doncaster Council, the organisation provides a 24 hour on call emergency service 365 days a year.