The council must ensure that irresponsible dog owners not be allowed to use dogs to foul estates and residential homes and to make sure anti social behaviour elements not use their dogs to harass people both on council and private residential flats within the borough
This ePetition ran from 22/03/2024 to 03/05/2024 and has now finished.
2 people signed this ePetition.
Following a review of your petition, please see below the
response.
Complaints relating to dogs may be dealt with by Environmental
Health or Housing depending on the location. There are no
enforcement powers in place relating to dogs urinating in public
areas. We do investigate complaints made about dog fouling - we are
able to serve fixed penalty notices where dog owners are witnessed
allowing their dog to foul on public land, but not pick up
afterwards. However, we require intelligence on the frequently used
route or location and times used in order to target a patrol which
would increase the possibility of witnessing an offence and
therefore enable action to be taken. We cannot take action where
dogs foul on privately owned land. Other actions we will take
include; placing stickers in problem areas and writing letters to
properties in a road or area where appropriate, advising residents
on responsible dog ownership.
We have a contract for collection of stray dogs 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year. Our contractors will only pick up a dog if it is captured, for practical reasons, ie, if a dog is freely roaming then it is likely to have gone by the time the contractors arrive, however, if it is in a garden, tethered, in a vets for example, it can be collected.
The council will investigate complaints about dogs that have attacked another dog, are out of control or aggressive, this could result in an informal conversation, letter or Community Protection Warning. Dogs that have attacked a person or are deemed dangerous is dealt with by the Police.
There are laws in place which enable the Council to deal with the types of complaints described above. We operate on a reactive basis whenever complaints are received as we do not have capacity to proactively patrol parks and green spaces within the Borough. On Council owned housing estate and private communal areas and gardens, complaints may be referred to Housing Managers or property management agencies where tenant and leasehold agreements relating to animal ownership, control or behaviours are likely to be in place.
If residents who have created or signed this petition would like
to contact Environmental Health to report a specific problem they
are experiencing and receive further advice, they may contact us on
01483 743840.