The community amenity bi-annual report set to be tabled by councillors this week, revealed there was a significant surge in reports of  roaming dogs, animal attacks, animal nuisance complaints and concerns about excess animals being kept in households.

The report compares data from October 2014 to March 2015 to figures from the same period the previous year. The document found the number of roaming dogs complaints submitted to the council has soared from 460 to 517. 

It also found there were 85 incidents of animal attacks reported to the council compared to 69 for the same time in the previous period.

The report also revealed that while the number of complaints involving barking dogs decreased, animal welfare and registration issues were on the rise in the city.

In the report the city’s continuous improvement officer Peter Falland said the increase in animal welfare enquires was linked to a Ballarat RSPCA inspector resigning late last year.

He said the inspector was not replaced and council officers have now been assisting in this area which has lead to an increase in the number of reports recorded by the council.

Mr Falland also outlined that officers and customer service had recently been retrained in recording rates of excess animals and therefore stats for the most recent period are more accurate than they have been in recent years. 

However, the data found that there enquires about dangerous or restricted dogs had dropped from 14 to 10.

The report also outlined a surge in local laws enquires which rose from 245 to 349. It also found there had been a jump in the number of reported abandoned vehicles from 191 in the 2013/14 period to 224 in 2014/15. 

Reports of litter dumping across Ballarat had slightly increased from 21 incidents to 25 in the most recent data while complaints of overhanging vegetation had rise from 45 to 65.  

There was also a 43 per cent drop in the number of fire prevention notices issued for the most recent reported period which Mr Falland outlined in his report could be attributed to a shorter fire danger season.

Reports of “unsightly premises “ were also on the decrease with 130 reported in the 2013/14 peirod compared to 84 most recent data.