Hastings council leaders set to make dog control decision
Hastings Borough Council’s cabinet is set to decide on changes to the town’s dog control Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) on Monday (4 November).
The town is currently covered by several dog exclusion zones, which can see dog walkers fined for bringing pets on to most of its beaches between 1 April and 30 September each year.
Councillors last year agreed to expand these zones, adding The Stade Beach and Rock-a-Nore Beach to the previous prohibitions.
A public consultation, held in September, asked residents whether the council should make any changes to the PSPO.
The consultation posed three potential options: to keep the restrictions as they had been last summer; to remove the restrictions from both The Stade Beach and Rock-a-Nore Beach; or to only remove the restrictions from The Stade Beach.
In all, the council received 2,580 responses, of these 64% were in favour of removing the restrictions from both The Stade Beach and Rock-a-Nore Beach. A report notes that most of the respondents (1,534) were from dog owners.
The other options received less support, with 802 people (671 of whom were not dog owners) in favour of keeping the previous restrictions and just 235 in favour of only removing the restrictions from The Stade Beach.
In light of the consultation response, cabinet members are being recommended to agree to remove the restrictions from both The Stade Beach and Rock-a-Nore Beach in time for next summer.
