Gold, silver and bronze for Shared Regulatory Service (SRS) partnership at animal welfare awards

The Shared Regulatory Service (SRS) for Bridgend County Borough, Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan has won Gold, Silver and Bronze awards at the 2021 RSPCA PawPrints initiative.

Designed to recognise achievements in stray dog services, contingency planning, housing policy, animal activity licensing and kennelled dog welfare, the scheme has had the backing of Welsh Government, the Welsh Local Government Association, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.

The Shared Regulatory Service were recognised in three different categories – Stray Dogs (Gold), Animal Activity Licensing (Silver) and Kennelled Dogs (Bronze).

Set up in 2015 as a partnership between the three councils, the Shared Regulatory Service brings together services such as trading standards, licensing and animal welfare in the region.

Cllr Dhanisha Patel, Cabinet Member for Wellbeing and Future Generations, said: “I would like to congratulate staff at the Shared Regulatory Service on their success once again in this initiative which follows on from their triple award win in 2019.

“To have their hard work and expertise recognised in this way is a real achievement particularly given the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic over the last 18 months.”

PawPrints is run by the RSPCA to recognise local authorities, housing associations, contingency planners and other public sector organisations that go above and beyond basic or statutory requirements to ensure higher welfare standards for animals in the services they provide.

Billie-Jade Thomas, RSPCA public affairs adviser, said: “Winning a PawPrints Award this year of all years is a huge achievement following the hugely challenging 18 months we have had.

“To see so many organisations continuing to demonstrate this level of commitment to animal welfare when there is so much else going on is fantastic.”

“All across Wales, public bodies are putting in so much effort behind the scenes to improve local animal welfare outcomes – but these efforts are too rarely celebrated. PawPrints is proud to raise awareness of these achievements.”