RAMBLERS in Crewe and Nantwich look set to win the right to relief without damnation at a council meeting today, Thursday.

The Environmental Services Committee agreed in November to introduce a new bylaw to stop people urinating and defecating in public.

But members of the South and East Cheshire Ramblers' Association were concerned that the new bylaw would include the borough's rural areas and lead to prosecution of walkers who get caught short.

The proposal looks set to be amended at a meeting of the committee this afternoon to exclude rural areas and restrict the law to Crewe, the urban wards of Nantwich, and the parishes of Haslington, Leighton, Rope, Wistaston, Willaston, Shavington and Woolstanwood.

Justin McCarthy, of the Ramblers' Association, said: "If myself or any of our members go out for a walk and it lasts for a long time, then many of us will need to do something."

"We may have to hop in a hedge somewhere, and if that's off a public footpath then that is in a public place.

The bylaw was first proposed by local police after a string of complaints from residents and Nantwich Town Watch Committee of pub and club-goers committing the offence in shop doorways.

Now a map has been drawn up to show the boundaries of where the scheme will be introduced, but Mr McCarthy is still unsure of the practicalities.

"It has to be something easily comprehended by someone who is in quite a state," he said.

"It's alright putting it on a map but if you are in Nantwich and walk up Welsh Row past the canal bridge and onto the footpath, where have you left the urban area and gone into the country?"

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