Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning Decision Meeting - Thursday 28 November 2024, 1:30pm - Cotswold District Council Webcasting

Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning Decision Meeting
Thursday, 28th November 2024 at 1:30pm 

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  1. Councillor Juliet Layton
  2. Caleb Harris, Officer
  3. Officer
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  5. Councillor Juliet Layton
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1 Declarations of Interest

Councillor Juliet Layton - 0:00:03
Good afternoon, my name is Councillor Juliet Layton and we're here this afternoon for the
renewal of the public space protection order for dog fouling.
I'm just going to ask the officers present to introduce themselves.
If you can start with you please Caleb.
Caleb Harris, Officer - 0:00:19
Yes good afternoon, I'm Caleb Harris, Senior Democratic Services Officer and I'm the Clerk
for this meeting.
Good afternoon, I'm Phil Measures,
Officer - 0:00:29
I'm the service leader for environmental health.
Officer - 0:00:40
Good afternoon, my name's Kevin Lee,
I'm the Embroer of Crime Officer for Cotswold District Council.
Councillor Juliet Layton - 0:00:49
Thank you, now we have to ask if anybody has any declared
interests in this. I can say I haven't got an interest to declare and I'm looking around
the room and I think everybody's shaking their heads so I think we can take that as read.

2 Renewal Of Public Space Protection Order For Dog Fouling

So this is, as it says, a renewal of a public space protection order for dog fouling and I'm
going to go to the Office of Film Measures and to Kevin Lee if he has anything to say
to give us an overview of this please. Thank you.
Officer - 0:01:16
Thank you. So dog fouling I'm pleased to say is something that remains publicly
unacceptable but sadly it still occurs in places across the district and we get
occasional complaints about dog fouling in particular locations. So there's a
need for the council to have in place some sanctions for people who do commit
dog fouling offenses that is to allow their dog to foul an area without
themselves clearing up, bagging and binning it. So in order to do that
councils across the country can declare public spaces protection orders in
localities or across the whole district to ban or prohibit an activity such
is this, which is what we've done here and what we did three years ago.
Now, public spaces protection order in this case bans the offence of dog fowling across
the district in all public open spaces.
The order is in place, as with all public spaces protection orders, for three years.
If it lapses, you have to go out to create a new public spaces protection order.
If it's required, you have to go out to a full consultation to justify the need for a public spaces protection order.
In this case, and in all cases, you can also review a public spaces protection order as it approaches the end of its three -year term.
And in doing so and establishing the need for a continuing public spaces protection
order, you can review it in a way that we're doing so today without the need for a full
public consultation.
And that's exactly what we've done today.
So we've carried out a limited consultation with parishes, members and local police to
to make them aware that we want to review and continue the public spaces protection
order for dog fouling. We received no adverse observations to that review and therefore
we're proposing this public spaces protection order on dog fouling to continue for another
Councillor Juliet Layton - 0:03:38
Officer - 0:03:39
three years. If I hand over to Kevin, he's got some information about the need for the
Public Spaces Protection Order.
Thanks, Phil.
Good afternoon.
Fortunately, I don't feel we suffer a great deal from
dog fouling.
On average, it's between 40 and 60 cases per annum over
the last three years.
When we receive a case, we'll go out to site where possible.
We'll talk to the individuals, you know,
Do they have any information who might have sort of committed the offence?
But invariably, those individuals are rarely seen.
And if individuals are seen, people are reluctant to kind of provide a statement.
For us to enforce the PSPO, you know, we are able to issue sort of fixed penalty notices.
And, you know, the fine is 100 pound.
But for us to do that, we need to have a statement, information, to identify the individual.
And there's, of course, an officer sees individual committing a dogfighting offence.
But as Phil has mentioned, we want it in place to protect the public health and safety from
actions of dogs and maybe less responsible dog owners,
you know, to support welfare of people through
responsible dog ownership.
And I think having the PSPO in place, you know,
the main people who are affected are perhaps young
people, children, for example, in parks.
So, you know, I really do think the PSPO should be,
should continue because children are probably most
likely to be affected.
Secondly, there are exemptions with the PSBO.
If there are guide dogs, for example,
we wouldn't expect the owners to pick up dog fannin'
if they were observed.
So within the PSBO, there is an exemption for blind people
and also for people with very, very limited mobility,
perhaps who's got a dog to that effect.
Let's talk about that in the PSBO.
The renewal of the PSBO will contribute positively to the Council's corporate priorities to create
a cleaner environment and a reduction in health and safety risk with exposure to dog fouling.
I think people consider it to be an environmental issue which can have a massive effect on the
communities, you know, the way the look and feel of the
neighborhood and the renewal of the PSPO will assist in changing
behavior and having the powers available, you know,
we can protect the public health, you know,
for all age groups and hopefully sort of secure a behavioral
change that dog fouling is socially unacceptable.
Thank you both very much.
Councillor Juliet Layton - 0:06:50
That was very clear and precise.
Thank you. Well I fully support this and it is my decision to make to approve the
renewal of the public space protection order for dog fouling for a further three
years, in effect from January the 1st 2025. And absolutely it is so important to
keep an updated public space protection order in and to safeguard
as you said safeguard the public and especially the children who play in
and in my local park in my ward we've got a football pitch and we've got a
cricket pitch and we've got a car park and sometimes people open the car doors
and just let their dogs run so actually if any member of the public could
actually seize this and witnesses that somebody's dog has found and they
haven't picked it up you take a picture of the number plate and we've got a bit
of evidence but when your football team or your youth team or your whether it's
football or cricket have to go out and check where they're playing every time they play
to clear dog poo. It is really not acceptable. We know that it causes illness and it also
causes permanent blindness. So it's a really serious issue. I hope somebody is listening
to this today and will look at our website and see what we're doing and what we're saying.
But yeah, I absolutely fully support this and the decision to approve this.
Thank you.
Thank you very much everybody and that finishes and closes the agenda.
Thank you.
Bye.