Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

34.

Members' Code of Conduct - Declarations of Interest / Party Whip

Members are asked to consider whether they have any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or any other relevant interest in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state the nature of the interest.

 

Members are reminded that they should also declare whether they are subject to a party whip in connection with any item(s) to be considered and, if so, to declare it and state the nature of the whipping arrangement.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members were asked to consider whether they had any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or any other relevant interest in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state the nature of the interest.

 

Members were reminded that they should also declare whether they were subject to a party whip in connection with any item(s) to be considered and, if so, to declare it and state the nature of the whipping arrangement.

 

Councillor Christina Muspratt declared a personal interest in general as she is a dog owner.

 

Councillor Chris Blakeley declared a personal interest in general as he had spoken publicly about his opposition to the proposal and had spoken on behalf of petitioners.  He gave assurance however that he would remain open minded at this meeting.

35.

Dogs Public Space Protection Order pdf icon PDF 142 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Before the commencement of the meeting the Chair announced that in view of the large number of members of the public in attendance the meeting would be displayed in the Council Chamber if anyone wished to be seated.  A proposal to move the meeting to the Civic Hall was discussed however the Chair indicated that there would be no facility to webcast the meeting.  Following discussion, taking into account the views of members of the public, the meeting continued in its current venue.

 

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave a reminder that this was a Scrutiny Committee – it was not a decision-making Committee and its brief was to make recommendations to Cabinet.  The Chair also indicated that Councillors Ian Lewis and Lesley Rennie were in attendance at the meeting as ex-officio Members and would not be voting.

 

The Chair introduced the report and highlighted that that feedback related to a small minority of dog owners and was clearly not a reflection of the behaviour of many thousands of dog owners in the Borough.  The Chair introduced Mike Cockburn, Lead Commissioner – Environment Strategy & Partnerships who gave a presentation on the proposed Dog Control Public Spaces Protection Order – Consultation and Proposed Measures.  The report set out the proposed dog control outcomes with the aim to create a safer environment for all users at Wirral’s open spaces and parks including dog owners and their pets.  The Appendices to the report provided the Proposed Dog Control Public Spaces Protection Order, the Proposed Locations for the Applications of PSPO Measures and the Consultation and Stakeholder Engagement Summary Report.  The presentation gave an outline of dog behaviour issues, current dog control measures and provided residents’ survey findings and feedback.  The initial set of proposed measures was detailed together with the feedback following an extensive 6 week consultation that had generated more than 9,000 responses.  The presentation showed that there had been fairly strong agreement and support with some of these proposals and more of a mixed view of opinions on the introduction of dog free zones in certain locations. The Committee were apprised of the final proposals and it was emphasised that certain measures i.e. Dog restrictions on the 5 bathing beaches and marked sports pitches not meeting the threshold outlined and Dogs on lead measures for A and B roads, public car parks, unbounded picnic sites and play equipment and the public areas within allotment sites were not being put forward.  Mike Cockburn concluded the presentation by giving a summary of the final proposals that had been determined following extensive consultation with the public and campaign groups.  He informed the Committee that if the proposals were approved work would begin to put them in place starting in the Spring and work would continue to involve campaign groups.

 

The Chair then invited Mr Rob Wilkinson (Wirral Good Dogs) to address the Committee.  Mr Wilkinson thanked the Committee for the opportunity to speak at the meeting.  He said that he had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.