p_in_ed

Delighted to hear some money is going to be spent on the playground, and looking forward to the result. Seems like the postioning of the picnic tables is easily remedied.

I agree with Bellenden Jo. It's nice to have separate areas for dog's and children, and it seems to work quite well at the moment. By putting up a fence, marking one of the areas as dog free, and relying on the goodwill of responsible dog owners to use the dog walking area of the park, seems to have resulted in a park that meets the needs of both dog walkers and families with young children over the last two years. I don't see why it needs to change.

I attended the most recent 'Friends of Goose Green' public meeting. I was surprised to discover at the meeting that the Council had no powers to enforce the dog free area. I made the point at the meeting was that the current arrangement seems to have worked well over the last two years on the basis of goodwill. In marking an area as 'dog free', the majority of dog walkers have been prepared to observe the division, whether enforcable or not. This seems ideal to me. Dog Control Orders seem to be an option if required, but if the two groups (dog walkers and others) can co-exist without the need for legislation, there seems to be no need to take this route. I made two other points at the meeting: 1) That if the public meeting last September had been held on a Spring or Summer weekend afternoon, when families were using the park, the views of the meeting would probably have been in favour of keeping the park segregated. As it was, the meeting was held on an Autumn weekday evening, when the majority of people in attendance were dog walkers 2) That if a 6 month trial of giving free access to the whole park for dog walkers was to be undertaken, it would be more sensible to hold it in the autumn and winter, rather than the Spring and Summer, when the park is most enjoyed by children and families. In walking across Goose Green last week, on the sporadic days when the weather was good, I was encouraged to see children playing football and adults sitting around in the dog free area, and dog walkers congregating, chatting and walking dogs in the dog walking area. It is, as far as I can see, a well regulated and effective arrangement that ensures that this invaluable community resource is enjoyed by as many people as possible. I don't think there is a problem that needs solving. It all works well as far as I can see. And as far as the fence is concerned, I have no problems at all with how it looks. Paul