Crackdown on defiant dog walkers

The Barnhill Safer Neighbourhood team are making a crackdown on 'professional' dog walkers who defy Dog Control Orders, a priority for this quarter. The orders stipulate a limit of 6 dogs per person but individuals have been seen with up to 15 dogs. At a going rate of £10 per hour for each dog this is clearly a lucrative business.

Complaints have come from ordinary members of the public, who walk their own one or two companion animals.and  who fear that the 'professionals' defiance will lead to a general clampdown on dog walking in Fryent Country Park.

The issue has been raised on this blog LINK   a week ago and complaints have been made by Barn Hill Residents Association. Barnhill ward councillors Michael Pavey and Shafique Choudhary have backed calls for action.


Some dog walkers have tried to get around the restrictions by bringing friends along to walk with them and thereby doubling the number of dogs to 12.  I hope that in the review of the orders due to take place in November that they could be revised so that the number of dogs being walked together as one 'pack' should never exceed 6 - 4 would be even better,

November review for Dog Control Orders

I understand that there will be a review of  Brent Council's Dog Control Orders in November, 6 month's after implementation (rather than six month's after the policy was approved which seems fair enough)..  Paul Hutchinson of the Sports and Parks Service  wrote to Barn Hill Residents Association

We agreed to a review of the orders,(six months after implementation) which will take place November this year. This will give us the chance to look at whether we think that 6 dogs is still problematic and seek to change this to 4 if we wish.

We are currently working with Brent’s legal team on how best to implement the orders and whether we should give fixed penalty notices or address the issue of repeat offence through the courts. (I have attached a copy of the actual orders that were agreed by the executive for the purpose of clarity)

It would be fair to say that the implementation is proving difficult with current staffing resources, but we are targeting the problem sites and hope by doing this we can solve the problem. I understand that the ‘Control’ notices at Fryent Country park are being taken down by the dog walkers and that the Parks staff will continue to erect them where necessary.

I can only agree that the idea of large packs of dogs roaming our open spaces is not what we would like to see, and I can fully understand that it certainly does spoil some peoples enjoyment of our local open spaces and Parks. I would like to assure you that we are doing all we can to minimise the problem.

 As I pointed out at the Executive the current orders leaves a loophole where two people walking together can still have up to 12 dogs between them which means that the problem of a large pack remains. I suggest that a simple amendment along the lines of 'The number of dogs being walked together by one or more persons should never exceed six (or 8)' would deal with the problem.

Call for reduced dog walking limits

An ePetition to Brent Council has been organised by Carol Nicholls calling for the limit on the number of dogs walked by any one person in Brent Parks to be reduced to four, rather than the limit of 6 agreed at the Executive last week:

The petition can be signed HERE

We the undersigned petition the council to change the decision of the Executive, which sat on the 14/11/2011, which was to allow a person to walk up six dogs in the parks and open spaces of Brent.

The only people who would wish to walk such a large number of dogs at one time are professional dog walkers. Many of whom do not live in Brent, but come here because their own councils have a far lower number. These people do not pay Council Tax to Brent whilst those that do have to pick up the bill via the Parks Department budget.

Local park users of all ages are apprehensive, if not frightened, by such large numbers of excited dogs who are allowed to run free off of their leads. It is impossible for a person to have proper control of six dogs or to see when and where they have fouled. This means that the walker is unable to pick up the faeces. It just lays there until an unsuspecting child or adult comes across it. Dog faeces on a child or adult's shoes is at the very least unpleasant, but worm infested faeces has severe health implications should a child or football player get some on their skin, in a wound, or in their eyes.

All park users, whatever their age, have the right to walk, play, socialize or just sit in Brent's beautiful parks and open spaces without the fear of six excited dogs disturbing their peace, or have to look before taking a step, just in case they tread in something unpleasant.

For all these reasons we ask that the councillors rethink their decision and make the maximum number of dogs a person can walk to be four.

Well doggone! Dog Orders Approved

Multiple dog walker in Fryent Country Park

 Brent Executive tonight approved new Dog Control Orders for Parks and Open Spaces. It restricts the total number of dogs that can be taken onto land  by any one person to six, excludes dogs from certain areas such as playgrounds and specifies areas where dogs should be kept on leads.

A local resident spoke in favour of reducing the maximum to 4 reflecting lower numbers in neighbouring boroughs and for more controls in Edward VII Park Willesden because of the number of children using the park. She also advocated restrictions on the length of leads as dogs as those on long leads were less easily controlled.

I spoke in favour of the  restriction on numbers walked by an individual and told councillors about my experience of encountering packs of up to 15 dogs in Fryent Country Park accompanied by a single 'professional' dog walker, and the danger this posed to children, and animals such as the horses at Bush Farm.  I warned about the difficulties of enforcing the Order when many of the professional dogs walkers come from outside Brent, having been displaced by similar Orders in their own boroughs.  There was also the possibility that they would bring a friend and thus increase the number of dogs they could lawfully walk.

Cll;r Powney (yep - he's in charge of this as well) said the policy would be reviewed after a year as the Council hadn't had such a policy before and needed to assess its enforcement.   Cllr Gavin Sneddon suggested that rather than a review after one year there should be one after six months and Cllr Powney (yep, he's is charge of this as well!) accepted the proposal.

Dogs not consulted on new Control Orders

Details of the proposals on Dog Control Orders have now been published. They will be going to the Council Executive for approval on November 14th.  There has been some opposition from professional dog walkers to the restriction on the number of dogs walked to six per person, with some walkers and the people who employ them arguing there should be no restriction at all. However other respondents suggested a limit of four dogs per person.

The document notes that this is not the same as a limit on the number of dogs walked together. This means that several individuals walking together could have a combined total of more than six dogs. There is a possibility that professional dogs walkers could avoid the restriction if they got a friend or two to accompany them. Clearly this will need to be monitored but overall the restriction seems to be sensible and a way of maximising the enjoyment and safety of open spaces such as Fryent Country Park and the Welsh Harp.

The control order instructing that dogs be kept on a lead in some areas mainly applies to children's playgrounds, sports areas and special areas such as the Roe Green Walled Garden. The report makes it clear that dogs do not have to be kept on a lead in the whole of Gladstone Park s some had claimed.

There is a lovely straight-faced sentence in the consultation report:

It is not possible to consult directly with dogs that may be affected.

The Impact Needs Assessment, including details of the consultation response can be found HERE and a list of the parks and playgrounds where dogs will be required to be kept on a lead in part of the space or the whole area can be found HERE

Upcoming Brent Executive Decisions

Somewhat surprisingly, given the need for proper scrutiny of Executive decisions, the Call In and Scrutiny Overview Committee due to be held this evening has been cancelled.

The Executive meets again on November 14th and the most controversial item is likely to be consideration of options for the redevelopment of the Willesden Green Library Centre site. No details of proposals are available as yet but I will try to publish them as soon as possible. There has been only internal council  consultation on this so far. Redevelopment would mean the closure of the library for at least two years and thus will add to the impact of the recent closures of  six of the borough's 12 libraries.

There may be organised protests by dog walkers against the Dog Control Orders due to be approved that night. Dog walkers will be limited to a maximum of six dogs per person. Dogs will be excluded from playgrounds, multi-use games areas, tennis and netball courts and bowling greens. Other areas will be specified where dogs must be kept on a lead. (See my earlier post LINK)

The Executive will be asked to approve the awarding of a Design and Build Contract to rebuild the Girls' and Boys Crest Academies and a joint procurement of council Human Resources through the Oracle system led by Lewisham and Lambeth.  This aims to rationalise back office support systems within London's local councils.

The December 12th Executive will be presented with the Quarter 2 2011/12 - Performance and Finance review which may have repercussions for spending for the remainder of this financial year. The same meeting will consider alterations in fees and charges for council services,  The most controversial decision at the January 16th 2011 meeting will be over the future of children's centre childcare provision.

I welcome these restrictions on professional dog walkers

Dog walker van parked at Fryent Country Park*

The November 14th Executive will be asked to agree the introduction of the Dog Control Orders in parks. The Orders would limit to six the maximum number of dogs that may be taken onto land by one person; exclude dogs from playgrounds, multi-use games areas, tennis and netball courts and bowling greens; and specify certain areas where dogs are to be kept on leads.

I welcome the limitation on dog numbers being walked by one person. Professional dog walkers have increasingly been using Fryent Country Park as other boroughs have introduced limits in their parks. The walkers, who charge up to £10 an hour for each dog, sometime have very large numbers of dogs off their leads in the park. I have counted 15 with one walker.  The dogs act as an excitable pack, often rampaging well ahead of the walker, and clearly not under immediate control. It appears to be impossible for that person to be able to pick up all the excrement deposited. In the summer I saw several dogs from a large group rushing around the pony paddock at Bush Farm with the walker nowhere in sight.

I take classes of primary school children to Fryent Country Park for nature walks with Brent School Without Walls. Generally dog walkers are sensitive and put their dogs on a lead when approaching their children, or take a route to avoid them. However, I have had encounters with the large groups of dogs when the  front-runners, off their leads, see the children, or smell their picnic lunches, and rampage around them, often frightening those children not used to dogs. Again the dog walker is well behind the leading dogs and thus not available to intervene. The mix of excited dogs and scared children is potentially dangerous.

From my chats with local people walking their companion dogs I think the Orders will be generally welcomed.  One issue on which the orders are silent is more than one person walking with a large group of dogs. Two people could have 12 dogs between them

* The criticism of professional dog walkers in this posting are not aimed specifically at the owners of this van.

Brent Parks consult on dog control orders

Brent Council Parks Department is currently running a consultation on Dog Control Orders. They are seeking to balance the  protection of children with the need of dog owners to have areas where their dogs can run free. One major measure is a restriction on the number of dogs being walked by one person at a time to 6. Professional dog walkers currently often have more than 10 dogs at a time. The proposals follow similar measures on Hampstead Heath. They also list areas where dogs will be completely excluded and where dogs must be kept on a lead.

The consultation ends on February 28th and the document is available HERE