Cabinet split over dog control issue

CONTROVERSIAL plans for tough new dog control orders should now go out for public consultation, Rother cabinet decided on Monday.

The meeting was split over how tough the proposed controls should be.

The hot potato wll come back to the debating chamber in March.

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Rother leader Cllr Graham Gubby called for the fullest possible public response to the consultation process in the meantime so councillors can base the eventual Orders on the public's wishes.

New Orders are needed under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 which has replaced the series of byelaws Rother had under the Dog (Fouling of Land) Act 1996, which has been repealed.

Draft Orders suggested by officers have already been put to parish councils in Rother.

Some have said they would want to opt out of potentially unpopular measures such as a requirement to keep a dog on a lead on scheduled council-owned land.

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But Cllr Gubby warned that they should be aware that potentially this could leave them with no legislation in place to protect the public.

Cabinet members had before them not only the rising tide of public disquiet about the controls but also the spectre of national headlines after the death of the five year-old killed by her uncle's pit bull terrier.

Cllr Gubby said there had been a serious attack by a dog on a woman in the Rother area.

"Since this is still being investigated I cannot say any more."

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Battle member Cllr Bob White argued forcibly in favour of controls, citing irresponsible owners who allow dogs to run out of control where children are playing.

Marsham member and deputy leader Cllr Robin Patten argued equally forcibly in favour of retaining selected areas such as part of Rother's beaches such as Pett where dogs could be safely allowed off the lead.

Head of environmental health Richard Parker-Harding's report to cabinet included a full page on the dangers to children from toxocara canis, carried in dog faeces.