A public space protection order may be introduced by Medway Council to ban dogs in some areas and keep them on a leash in others affecting sites such as Riverside country park.
Kristin Hawthorne reports.
Kristin Hawthorne reports.
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00:00Under proposed bans in Medway, owners who disregard dog walking rules could now
00:05face fines of up to £100 from both the council and police. If these new
00:10rules go ahead, a public space protection order could be set in place to exclude
00:15dogs from some areas and remain on leads in others, as well as limiting the number
00:19of dogs that can be walked at one time.
00:22What this is obviously aiming to do is to make sure that dogs are able to be exercised
00:28appropriately and that their owners are still able to access public spaces and
00:34to give that exercise, but also that members of the public, and especially I
00:38think children, are able to play safely without the risk of being approached by
00:44unrestrained dogs.
00:46Play parks and multi-use game areas in Medway
00:49may also face complete dog exclusion. Six other locations, including the
00:54Riverside and Capstone Country Parks, could also require dogs to be kept on
00:59leads in areas such as car parks and the pond and picnic areas. Cemeteries in
01:04Chatham, Rochester, Woodlands and Strood would also face these restrictions.
01:09Riverside Country Park is a popular place for people to come both with and
01:13without dogs. Being one of the 99 Medway parks, there may be new bans with added
01:18fines excluding dogs from some areas and enforcing keeping them on the lead in
01:23others. But what does this mean for the people who enjoy coming here?
01:27I don't think it's right. I think people should be free to police themselves and their
01:31dogs and obviously suffer the consequences. I haven't seen them chasing birds or anything like that
01:35so it's quite overkill really.
01:38I think it's having control of them is the main thing, because you don't know how they're going to behave.
01:43Even if you think your dog's really well trained, you still don't know how they're going to behave and you don't know what reaction they're going to get.
01:48Asking for them to be on a lead, I think, is reasonable.
01:51Dog trainers say that part of the issue is that people are simply not training their dogs correctly.
01:57Not everyone's keen on dogs, so if your dog is running up to other people and other dogs, we need to work on that recall.
02:02Because again, that is just not appropriate, it's not always safe for that as well.
02:06So I think again, just having that basic training in, knowing when to put them on lead, have them off lead as well,
02:11it would just prevent a lot of incidents. And of course, again, just making sure you do clean up after your dog as well.
02:16If that's the reason why some of these things are happening, then we do need to be responsible owners as well on that.
02:21Today is the last day to share your opinion on the Council's website about these proposed restrictions
02:27and to help aid the councillors in their decision.
02:30Kristen Hawthorne for KMTV.