Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Service Manager Environmental Protection.

The committee received and considered a report of the Service Manager Environmental Protection which sought the support of the committee for the provision of a Dog Related Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) from the expiration of the current Order on 31 December 2023, either by extension of the existing Order or by the introduction of a new Order.  The Council was required to carry out a public consultation in respect of this and the committee was invited to consider and comment of the content of the draft public consultation document.

Councillors considered the issues arising from the report and the draft public consultation document and comments were made in the following areas:

·       Need for clarification of the meaning of ‘irresponsible dog ownership’ in the report/draft consultation document.

·       Restrictions relating to the timing and location for the exercise of dogs on Weymouth beach to be included as part of the consultation.

·       Enforcement issues were considered and what alternative support the council may be able to provide to communities, particularly those in rural areas.

·       Issues relating to dog fouling were required to be included in the public consultation as a requirement of being included in the Order.

·       The wording of questions would be discussed and confirmed with the council’s Legal Services Team where clarification or definition was required.

·       The consultation end date would be confirmed following the meeting.

·       Dog fouling was monitored in particular areas and additional resource was available to monitor in areas where dog fouling was occurring.

·       A request was made for paper copies of the consultation document to be made available in locations such as hub offices and community facilities.

·       The PSPO focused on spaces such as sports pitches and parks and not pavements.

·       Issues around the provision of dog waste bins and associated signage were discussed and resource issues were noted.  A suggestion was made that these issues should be reviewed in future.

·       Comments were made around how signage could be improved and would be reviewed following the meeting.

·       Request for wording of explanation to be included at question 2b (Is this an official response?).

·       Questions relating to restrictions at Studland would be reviewed following the meeting.

·       The wording of question 11 regarding restriction times would be reviewed following the meeting.

·       The council was keen to work with town and parish councils on training in this area and to have authorised officers where possible and further awareness raising of the consultation generally would be undertaken.

·       A review of the achievements of the current PSPO would be included in the next committee report (October).

·       Issues around dogs worrying agricultural livestock were considered.

·       The committee asked that the information provided on the council’s website be reviewed in order to bring all information together into one area.

Following the consultation period, a further report would be brought to the committee on 5 October 2023 to discuss the findings and to recommend the agreement of the draft Order by Cabinet.