A LOCAL authority has awarded a two-year contract for dealing with stray pooches in the borough.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has chosen Bolton-based Animal Wardens Ltd to take over its dog wardens and kennelling service from next month.

Its environmental service boss Martin Eden has authorised the £36,876 a year deal with an option for another two years.

Animal Wardens from Atherton, in operation for since 1984, provides the service to more than 100 councils nationwide.

In a report to councillors Mr Eden says: "The current contracts for both the dog kennelling and dog wardens service are due to expire on June 30 2022.

"The council has a number of statutory duties in relation to the collection and kennelling of stray dogs and needs to procure the services from an external organisation to support them in meeting these requirements.

"Two bids were received and unfortunately one of them was judged to be non –compliant because they did not have the necessary experience and their price was over budget.

"The other bid, from Animal Wardens Ltd, was judged to be compliant.

"It fully met the requirements of the specification and the pricing submitted was within budget.

"As part of the evaluation process officers from the council’s Environment Department have visited the kennels Animal Wardens will use for this contract and have confirmed they meet the necessary requirements outlined in the tender documents.

"In addition, the council’s contract manager will continue to visit the kennels on a quarterly basis, once the contract is awarded, to ensure the kennels continue to meet the Council’s requirements (including un-announced visits).

"The annual value of the contract is £36,876.

" If the contract was not awarded then the council would be unable to meet its statutory requirements for collecting and kennelling stray dogs.

"The council has tried to encourage more competition for this contract by speaking to potential providers and advertising the opportunity widely but unfortunately there hasn’t been the level of interest hoped for.

"The new contract value will be within the existing budget for these services.

" Providing the services in-house was rejected because neither of the services have been provided by the council for many years and as a result there would be significant set-up costs

which would be unaffordable within the existing budget."