Huntingdonshire District Council has introduced Dog Control Orders under section 55 of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005. The new orders were made on 15 November 2007 and come into force on 15 December 2007.
Public consultation on the orders was carried out from 1 August 2007 to 30 September 2007 and all responses and representations were considered before the orders were duly made. A copy of the consultation summary can be seen by following the link on the right of this page.
The new Dog Control Orders are considered necessary and proportionate to local circumstances and replace the previous system of byelaws and orders for the control of dogs and also the designations made under the Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act 1996, which has been repealed.
The land to which the Dog Control Orders apply is specified within the schedule to each of the orders and in the associated maps which can be viewed by following the links on the right of this page.
In preparing the new orders the Council has repeated the level of control established under the previous system and extended them as necessary where, for instance, new residential development has occurred or local parks or play areas have been expanded. Town and Parish Councils have been consulted throughout the process of making the orders.
The new orders have the same effect as the previous controls but are backed up by higher fixed penalties of £75 (or £50 if paid within ten days). In the Magistrates’ Court, the penalty for conviction of an offence is a maximum fine of level 3 on the standard scale (currently £1000).
The effect of the orders is that any person in charge of a dog on land covered by a Dog Fouling Control Order must clean up any faeces deposited by the dog. Dogs must be kept on a lead in defined areas of the District and dogs are banned from certain sensitive areas of the District such as children’s play areas. Authorised officers will also be able to direct any person in charge of a dog on land covered by a Dogs on Leads by Direction Order to put and keep a dog on a lead where such restraint is considered to be reasonably necessary.
The Dog Control Orders (Prescribed Offences and Penalties, etc) Regulations 2006 provide for five offences which may be prescribed in Dog Control Orders as follows:
- failing to remove dog faeces;
- not keeping a dog on a lead;
- not putting, and keeping, a dog on a lead when directed to do so by an authorised officer;
- permitting a dog to enter land from which dogs are excluded;
- taking more than a specified number of dogs onto land.
The District Council has elected to makes orders for the offences listed at 1 to 4 above.