For the past two months she has appeared daily on a village recreation ground as a saviour to all the children who play there.

Living right next to the field which has a sports pitch as well as a play area, district councillor Barbara McGoun has no need for a phone box to complete her Superman=style makeover - as the Poo Fairy of Horning.

The retired PA to local MP Norman Lamb has become a familiar sight in her fluorescent yellow jacket which, on the back, carries a blunt message from the Poo Fairy - clear up after your dog so I don't have to.

Mrs McGoun, 64, of Pinewood Drive, has her own dog, Pepper, a Welsh terrier, and started her one-woman campaign out of concern that dogs could be banned from public areas in the Broadland village because of growing anger over owners not clearing up after their pets.

She said: 'The parish council was thinking of banning dogs from coming on the recreation ground and I was concerned as it is a very popular place for people to exercise their pets, especially for elderly and disabled villagers who can't go far from their homes.'

Mrs McGoun, a lay reader in the local church as well as a Liberal Democrat member of North Norfolk council, said there had been mixed reaction from people seeing her bright jacket and trademark plastic bags.

'Some people have been really supportive and one man who has cats says he will come and help me,' she said.

'However, others say it is stupid, arguing that it will stop people picking up their dog's poo at all because they know I am doing it.'

Mrs McGoun hopes people will gradually get the message and insisted: 'I think it is part and parcel of being a dog owner. People should not have a dog if they are not prepared to pick up after them.

'The culprits are a mix of people. In some cases it can even be parents at the play area, concentrating on their children and becoming distracted from what their dog is doing.'

She said if she identified any errant dog owners she would have a 'kind word with them', but warned the authorities could give out stiff fines.