South Wales council agrees new dog controls

Torfaen Borough Council cabinet has agreed to renew its dog controls.

The South Wales council has had public space protection order in place since 2018 that ban dogs from certain areas including schools and marked sports pitches, requires they be kept on leads in others such as cemeteries, Garn Lakes and Cwmbran Boating Lake, and also require waste is picked up in certain areas.

The council’s cabinet has agreed to renew the orders and also extend them so they also apply to any marked sports pitches and children’s play areas on public land developed since November 2021.

It has also been agreed officers will consider suggestions for further dog controls, such as bans or that they be kept on leads including Pontypool Park and the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal towpath.

Councillor Sue Morgan suggested the review should also consider requiring dog walkers carry with them bags to collect waste.

The council ran a four week online consultation in May as part of the review of its existing orders, which found 80.3% of those who responded were in favour of retaining the dog exclusion areas and 83.9% wanted to keep the dogs on leads areas.

It was also shown 68.6% did not feel that the orders are appropriately enforced and 58% did not feel rules are a suitable deterrent.

There were 27 requests for the canal towpath to be an on-lead area, 11 for the rule to be introduced at Pontypool Park and six asked for it be extended to cycle paths. The highest number of requests for additional dog exclusion areas was 10 for to the canal towpath, with five requests the ban be applied to Pontypool Park. There were eight requests for more dog-waste bins and six requests for better signage.