Dog control orders back on the council agenda

PLANS for dog control orders, which caused fury at April's meeting of Huntingdonshire District Council's cabinet, are back on the agenda tomorrow (Thursday) in greater detail.

Two months ago Councillor Paula Longford said her hackles rose when she read about new orders forcing owners to keep dogs on leads. It would be impossible to exercise them in the district's parks, she complained angrily.

Her outburst was all too much for the cabinet's chairman, Councillor Ian Bates, who hastily deferred the matter in pursuit of further and better particulars.

Cllr Longford lost her seat in the May elections, so will not be at tomorrow's meeting as a participant.

Ironically, closer reading of the papers shows that the council is planning little material change in enforcement of dog control.

For the most part it is simply changing the legal framework from the old bye-laws to dog control orders under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005, which took effect a year ago.

The only real changes, said HDC's operations director Malcolm Sharp, are to extend orders to play areas created on new housing developments built since the byelaws were framed and to reduce the extent of their imposition at Hinchingbrooke Country Park, giving owners more freedom to exercise their animals.

So Mrs Longford was barking up the wrong tree.