New Schedule 1
Marine and Coastal Access Bill [Lords]
11:30 am
Andrew George (St Ives, Liberal Democrat)
That is right; I am a mainlander. The new schedule would ensure that Natural England is consulted by a local authority that wishes to implement a dog control order on coastal paths. I urge the Committee not to be prejudiced by the totally unacceptable way in which a minority of dog owners allow their dogs to behave in public spaces or by their failure to clean up after them, although such issues cannot be ignored.
The Kennel Club and other dog-owner organisations are understandably eager for as full access as possible to the coastal path, but they are concerned about the frequency, as they see it, with which local authorities implement control orders, often without proper consultation. There are 8 million pet dogs in the UK cared for by an estimated 15 million people, which is an average of almost 12,400 resident dogs per parliamentary constituency. Government statistics show that dog walkers represent between one third and one half of all walkers. Dog walkers also represent a cross-section of society, drawn from across all socio-economic backgrounds.
Research by Hampshire county council shows that the biggest factor influencing where dog walkers exercise their dogs is whether they can exercise their dogs off-lead. If it is not possible to do that within the local area, more than 40 per cent. say that they would drive further away from where they live. However, dog owners’ ability to comply with their obligations under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, to provide their dogs off-leash exercise, has sometimes been compromised by the introduction of another parliamentary measure that restricts their activities—dog control orders under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005—especially where no alternative provision is made. In effect, two Acts are crashing on dog owners and appear to be in conflict.
DEFRA guidance accompanying the 2005 Act states that local authorities should show that dog control orders are
“a necessary and proportionate response to problems caused by the activities of dogs and those in charge of them”
and should
“balance the interests of those in charge of dogs against the interests of those affected by the activities of dogs”.
The Kennel Club believes that in practice the guidance has been widely ignored and many local authorities are taking a more restrictive approach—I use “believes”, because I do not go along entirely with the club’s approach in every respect. Furthermore, while local authorities are required to notify Natural England of any proposed dog control orders on access land, the club claims that few appear to have done so. The lack of any appeals process has, according to the club, allowed some local authorities to ignore the guidance.
To date, at least 120 councils in England have implemented dog control orders, sometimes issuing as many as 100 in the local area, although there could well be more. The Kennel Club believes that approximately 75 authorities already exclude or restrict dogs on their beaches. The effect of the increasing reduction of access to public open space is making dog ownership less viable and may therefore negate the many health, social and economic benefits.
To balance the issue, the Government should reflect on the potential for the increased role of Natural England in respect of the introduction of dog control orders because, in many areas, restrictions on dog access to the coast has been flouted by dog owners. I give an example from my constituency. On the north coast, near Hayle, there are between 3.5 and 4 miles of towans or sand dunes. A large section was sold yesterday for £80,000, and it was on the national news. The towans are planted predominantly with marram grass and other vegetation such as bracken heath. The owner of that land thankfully cannot do a lot with it due to restrictions. There are ground-nesting birds in the area, particularly at this time of year. Currently, dogs are entitled to exercise off the lead throughout the year in the area. If Natural England was more involved in the setting of dog control orders, that might have resulted in seasonal restrictions on the ability of dog owners to allow their dogs to exercise off the lead. Over the past decade or more, as the exercising of dogs in the area has increased, the preponderance of ground-nesting birds has decreased significantly because of the disturbance caused by dog owners. The Kennel Club is arguing that Natural England should be involved, because it believes that local authorities are not doing a good job. It thinks that that would be a means by which to appeal to Natural England’s better nature and achieve a more acceptable dog-control order than that implemented by local authorities. My argument is that there would be the additional benefit of flora and fauna protection. I therefore hope that the Minister will reflect on the need at least to allow the advice of Natural England to be considered properly when the dog-control orders are implemented.