YOUNGSTERS have helped launch a clean-up campaign by targeting irresponsible dog owners.

Members of the Beck Buddies, a youth group set up to help look after Hartlepool's Greatham Beck Local Nature Reserve (LNR) on the town's Fens estate, have made dozens of posters to highlight the problems caused by dog dirt.

The posters, produced with help from the Fens Residents' Association, are to be put up around the estate as part of the Spring Clean Hartlepool initiative.

The operation, which will run during this month and next, aims to encourage individuals and groups of residents to organise events to improve the environment.

The poster campaign is being co-ordinated by countryside warden Robert Smith, who is a resident of the Fens estate.

"We all have a responsibility to look after our local environment and I am delighted that so many people and organisations have come together to tackle the problem of dog fouling around the estate," he said.

"I am sure that our enthusiastic partnership of children, the local primary school and residents will make a real difference right across the estate from the Greatham Beck LNR to the other green areas which are blighted by a selfish minority of dog owners."