kingtubby Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > For what it is worth, on my daily run around > Peckham Rye common, I took a note of the number of > dogs exercising in the park: 8. Number in the dog > exercise area: 0 (dogs & dog owners of all > ages/sex/types). The dog exercise area does look > extremely large to me. What dog exercise area? Peckham Rye DOESN'T have a dog exercise area! As has already been said, this new law will not address the issues it is alledgedly designed to do. It will be virtually inenforcable and create a greater level of animosity between park users. If and that's a big if, this does become a policy by Southwark Council, the parks will become places where many people would not wish to go, simply because the very prescence of dog owners is in itself a crime deterrent. So rather than dodge the odd dog poo, parents who do take the risk of going into the parks will be dodging the discarded syringes of the drug users that will take up residence and run a greater risk of encountering the occasional flasher or worse. Dog walkers make parks safer for all and confining them to specific areas will without doubt make parks less safe. Southwark Council had a campaign last year called 'Flag the Poo', Peckham Rye Park and Common was shown to be the cleanest in the borough, with far fewer deposits than expected. Education is what's needed, more poo bins and an efficent warden service to manage current legislation. Southwark council have also decided to amend or discard other bylaws, such as cycling in parks, effectively turning all parks into velodromes, rather than investing in and maintaining proper cycle routes. The city is a completely suitable environment for people and their companion animals to co-exist with the general population without resorting to ridiculous measures such as are being proposed. Why has the anti-dog brigade not been lobbying local councils to introduce these measures before? Why? Because the whole issue has been borne on the back of the farcical Dangerous Dogs Act and some recent tragic incidents, most of which occured in homes, citing the death of a child in Liverpool. Last year Southwark Council received approximately sixty dog related complaints, of which bites fell into single figures. This is in comparison to an average of 712 walks per dog owner per year (this adds up to an incredible amount of walks throughout the borough by all it's dog walkers, which I hasten to add are mostly responsible). Yes have legislation, but we already have adequate legislation, it's just not being policed properly. Campaign for a decent parks and street warden service before attempting to persecute the responsible for the actions of the irresponsible few.
