Plymouth council tweaks dog controls

Plymouth City Council is to renew its Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) covering dog control on 20 October.

Allowing dogs on leads to accompany people into cemetaries, at Weston Mill and Efford, is the biggest change to the order which is designed to reduce dog fouling. 

Earlier this year, the council asked residents about a number of proposed changes to the order. The council said just under 2,000 responses were received, with 73% identifying as dog owners. 

The consultation asked whether dogs, historically excluded from cemeteries, should be allowed in these areas on leads. Exactly 75% of respondents agreed and so this restriction will be altered. 

Residents were also asked whether the number of dogs allowed to be walked by one person at one time should exceed six. Nearly 90% of residents said that it should not, so this will be added to the PSPO. 

In the current order, dog owners must keep their dogs on a lead within the marked playing area of a sports pitch but as part of the consultation, residents were asked whether dogs should be excluded from pitches altogether. Results show that 54% of respondents objected to this change and so it was not implemented. 

Councillor Sally Haydon, Cabinet Member for Customer Focus and Community Safety, said: “This order is designed to stamp out dog fouling; something everyone dislikes, so to have so many people fill in the consultation has given us a really good idea of the feeling out there. 

“We always said that none of the proposals were set in stone, so it’s been really good to get such a wide range of feedback to the initial ideas.” 

The new rules will come into force when the PSPO renewed on 20 October.