Continuing To Take A Lead On Dog Control

Dover District Council have launched a consultation on Monday 12 March about plans to renew the order controlling dogs in the Dover district, with some minor changes.

DDC introduced a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in July 2015 relating to the order controlling dogs.  The order covers a range of matters, including areas where dogs are banned or where they need to be kept on a lead. A PSPO runs for 3 years.

Under the proposals, offences of failing to remove faeces, and failing to put a dog on a lead after being requested to do so by an authorised officer remain in place across the district.  The Fixed Penalty Notice is to remain at £75 to be paid within 14 days.

Proposed changes include:

The requirement to keep dogs on leads in specified places is to be amended in the following areas:

• Deal Promenade – extend the area to cover green space and gardens at Sandown Castle
• Dover Seafront – remove the restriction on the seafront gardens so dogs only have to be on a lead on the promenade, and remove the restriction beyond the last groyne where the promenade runs alongside the main road

The offence of permitting a dog to enter specified land from which dogs are excluded is to be amended in the following areas:

• Dover Seafront – remove the exclusion to the eastern end of the beach beyond the last groyne adjacent to the Premier Inn
• St Margaret’s Bay Beach – remove the exclusion at a point to the eastern end of the beach by the stairs

The following sites are to be added to the exclusion section of the PSPO: Victoria Park, Deal Sports Pitches; North Deal Playing Field area; St Radigund’s Play Area; Aycliffe Play Area; Wingham Recreation Ground; and new play areas in Galahad Way and Willingham Road in Whitfield.

Cllr Trevor Bartlett, DDC Cabinet Member for Environmental Health, said: “The PSPO has worked well and it’s important that we renew it.  We look forward to hearing people comments, and all feedback will be taken into consideration.”

The consultation runs from 12 March to 9 April 2018.  For more information, or to have your say, please see the PSPO page.