STRAY dogs could soon be roaming the streets of Worcester because of a change in legislation and funding shortfall.

From April, the responsibility of looking after strays will pass from the police to local councils under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005.

However, Worcester City Council says the annual sum of £6,000 from the Government to provide this additional service is insufficient. The council's environmental health manager, Martin Gillies, said: "The financial provision that's been allocated is woefully short of the costs that will have to be borne by the local authorities to put the necessary arrangements in place.

"What's being expected of the local authorities by the new legislation is to make the service 24-7, and you can't do that with an extra £6,000. It's nowhere near enough.

"I suspect that unless we are able to put adequate arrangements in place we are going to see an increase in the number of stray dogs."

Mr Gillies explained how the current situation works. "At this moment in time, if you find a stray on your property, you can take that to the local police station and the police are obliged to take it off your hands," he said.

"What we've done for many years since the legislation came into effect is taken those strays off the police's hands and dealt with them as city council strays. It's purely a gesture of goodwill."

Mr Gillies was unable to say how much it costs to do this, because contracts with dog wardens were being re-negotiated.

There were 152 stray dogs found in Worcester last year with 91 remaining unclaimed.

South Worcestershire Police were unavailable to comment on how much money it had previously received to fund the service. However, Geoff Carpenter, Wychavon District Council's Environmental Protection Officer, is not anticipating any problems.

"From our perspective, we are working with the police to have a kennel facility at Evesham at the community contact centre there," he said.

"For us there's no major changes, it's just us working together with the police to ensure that, as far as the public are concerned, there's going to be no dramatic change."

Meanwhile Paul Hine, Animal Welfare Officer for Malvern Hills District Council, said the authority had a contract with Worcestershire Animal Rescue Service, which acted as an acceptance point for strays until 10pm at night.