More important priorities

Leeds holds a consultation about its proposed "Dog Control Orders"

If you live in Leeds, please visit the website, and submit your response to the proposal. In addition to doing this, I emailed the Leeds Councillors and MPs:

To: 'barry.anderson@leeds.gov.uk'; 'stuart.andrew@leeds.gov.uk'; 'suzi.armitage@leeds.gov.uk'; 'bernard.atha@leeds.gov.uk'; 'denise.atkinson@leeds.gov.uk'; 'andrew.barker@leeds.gov.uk'; 'sue.bentley@leeds.gov.uk'; 'ann.blackburn@leeds.gov.uk'; 'Cllr.david.blackburn@leeds.gov.uk'; 'judith.blake@leeds.gov.uk'; 'richard.brett@leeds.gov.uk'; 'colin.campbell@leeds.gov.uk'; 'andrew.carter@leeds.gov.uk'; 'les.carter@leeds.gov.uk'; 'ann.castle@leeds.gov.uk'; 'judith.m.chapman@leeds.gov.uk'; 'ben.l.chastney@leeds.gov.uk'; 'brian.cleasby@leeds.gov.uk'; 'david.congreve@leeds.gov.uk'; 'mick.coulson@leeds.gov.uk'; 'patrick.davey@leeds.gov.uk'; 'mark.dobson@leeds.gov.uk'; 'ryk.downes@leeds.gov.uk'; 'jane.dowson@leeds.gov.uk'; 'geoff.driver@leeds.gov.uk'; 'jack.dunn@leeds.gov.uk'; 'judith.elliott@leeds.gov.uk'; 'penny.ewens@leeds.gov.uk'; 'ruth.feldman@leeds.gov.uk'; 'ronald.feldman@leeds.gov.uk'; 'robert.finnigan@leeds.gov.uk'; 'clive.fox@leeds.gov.uk'; 'angela.gabriel@leeds.gov.uk'; 'stewart.golton@leeds.gov.uk'; 'pauleen.grahame@leeds.gov.uk'; 'terry.grayshon@leeds.gov.uk'; 'peter.gruen@leeds.gov.uk'; 'martin.hamilton@leeds.gov.uk'; 'ted.hanley@leeds.gov.uk'; 'janet.harper@leeds.gov.uk'; 'peter.harrand@leeds.gov.uk'; 'mark.harris@leeds.gov.uk'; 'arif.hussain@leeds.gov.uk'; 'graham.hyde@leeds.gov.uk'; 'william.hyde@leeds.gov.uk'; 'john.illingworth@leeds.gov.uk'; 'mohammed.iqbal@leeds.gov.uk'; 'josephine.jarosz@leeds.gov.uk'; 'valerie.kendall@leeds.gov.uk'; 'graham.kirkland@leeds.gov.uk'; 'alan.lamb@leeds.gov.uk'; 'brenda.lancaster@leeds.gov.uk'; 'graham.latty@leeds.gov.uk'; 'pat.latty@leeds.gov.uk'; 'thomas.leadley@leeds.gov.uk'; 'james.lewis@leeds.gov.uk'; 'richard.lewis@leeds.gov.uk'; 'matthew.lobley@leeds.gov.uk'; 'alison.lowe@leeds.gov.uk'; 'joe.marjoram@leeds.gov.uk'; 'jamie.matthews@leeds.gov.uk'; 'andrea.mckenna@leeds.gov.uk'; 'james.mckenna@leeds.gov.uk'; 'james.monaghan@leeds.gov.uk'; 'veronica.morgan@leeds.gov.uk'; 'lisa.mulherin@leeds.gov.uk'; 'thomas.murray@leeds.gov.uk'; 'elizabeth.nash@leeds.gov.uk'; 'adam.ogilvie@leeds.gov.uk'; 'keith.parker@leeds.gov.uk'; 'john.procter@leeds.gov.uk'; 'rachael.procter@leeds.gov.uk'; 'ralph.pryke@leeds.gov.uk'; 'cllr.mohammed.rafique@leeds.gov.uk'; 'karen.renshaw@leeds.gov.uk'; 'matthew.robinson@leeds.gov.uk'; 'david.schofield@leeds.gov.uk'; 'brian.selby@leeds.gov.uk'; 'steve.cllr.smith@leeds.gov.uk'; 'neil.taggart@leeds.gov.uk'; 'alan.taylor@leeds.gov.uk'; 'eileen.taylor@leeds.gov.uk'; 'christopher.townsley@leeds.gov.uk'; 'shirley.varley@leeds.gov.uk'; 'keith.wakefield@leeds.gov.uk'; 'gerald.wilkinson@leeds.gov.uk'; 'donald.wilson@leeds.gov.uk'; 'roderic.wood@leeds.gov.uk'; 'lucinda.yeadon@leeds.gov.uk'
Cc: 'hamiltonf@parliament.uk'; 'mudieg@parliament.uk'; 'mulhollandg@parliament.uk'; 'bennh@parliament.uk'; 'rachel.reeves.mp@parliament.uk'
Subject: Leeds Dog Control Orders Consultation

Dear Elected Representatives for Leeds,

I have taken a moment to fill in the online Dog Control Orders Consultation, but as I feel strongly about a number of issues raised by this consultation I thought I would take the extra time to contact you all directly.

In these straightened times it does not seem a prudent use of Leeds City Council’s finite financial resources to contemplate new schemes when every taxpayer penny is desperately needed in front line core services. If these Control Orders are adopted there will be a cost – putting up signs, training council officers on their new powers, conducting a public awareness campaign, employing people to enforce the new measures, plus the cost of issuing fines and pursuing non-compliance in the courts. Don’t we have more important priorities for our public funds?

Councillor Tom Murray is on record as saying that "Irresponsible dog owners are a problem, blighting parks and streets with the pet's mess and failing to properly control their animals.” This is a contentious opinion.

As a responsible dog owner I visit a city park every day to walk my dog, getting some exercise and appreciating the outdoors in the process. I would hazard a guess that dog owners are probably the only section of the community who use a park every single day, in summer and winter, fair weather and foul.

I principally walk my dog in Middleton Park, Roundhay Park, Temple Newsam, and Golden Acre Park. In my daily perambulations I have not seen this “blight” that Coun Murray speaks of. A dictionary definition of blight is “something that impairs growth, withers hopes and ambitions, or impedes progress and prosperity.” I would suggest that unemployment could be described as a blight, but dogs being walked off lead supervised by their owners does not constitute a “blight”.

Like all responsible dog owners, I clean up after my animal, using the dog bins provided. If the council has any spare funds then, instead of control orders, perhaps it would like to consider increasing the number of dog bins, and have them emptied far more regularly. Fines for failing to clean up after a dog already exist, the proposed control orders add nothing valuable to this.

Unless the council can come up with substantiated and quantifiable statistics of issues caused by off-lead dogs then there can be no rational argument for imposing costly new regulations in the midst of a recession.

Please spend our tax money on core frontline services.