Purpose

To seek permission to consult on adopting a Public Space
Protection Order (PSPO) in relation to dog fouling

Content

The Cabinet
considered a report of the Director of Economy and Place, which
sought approval of a Public Space Protection Order aimed at
addressing the issues arising from dog fouling.
 
 
The Cabinet Member
Climate Change and Environment delivered a brief summary of the
report’s key points.
 
The Service
Manager Environmental Action and Enforcement was in attendance to
present the information and to respond to questions and comments
from Cabinet Members.
 
The Officer
informed that the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act
2014 introduced a number of tools and powers for use by Councils,
and partners, to address anti-social behaviour (ASB) in their
respective areas.
 
Public Spaces
Protection Orders (PSPOs) were one of these tools. The Act gives
Councils the authority to implement Public Spaces Protection Orders
(PSPOs) in response to the particular issues affecting their
communities, provided certain criteria and legal tests are
met.
 
Councils could use
Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) to prohibit specified
activities, and/or require certain things to be done by people
engaged in particular activities, within a defined public area.
PSPOs differed from other tools introduced under the Act as they
were council-led, and rather than targeting specific individuals or
properties, they focused on the identified problem behaviour in a
specific location.
 
The Officer
further informed that PSPOs were only permitted to run for a period
of 3 years, at which point, it either expired or an application was
made for its renewal. The suggested restrictions of this Public
Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) were to prohibit the following:
Allowing dogs to foul land and not removing and disposing of the
faece. It was proposed that the PSPO would be borough wide as shown
in appendix 1 to the report.
 
Resolved:

1.    
That  the proposed Public
Spaces Protection Order, as per the draft in appendix 2 to the
report be agreed;

2.    
That the commencement of a public consultation for a period
of no less than 6 weeks, to begin as soon as possible be
agreed;

3.    
That it be noted that a further report would be produced
following the outcome of the public consultation and full Equality
Impact Assessment (EIA) to help inform the final
decision.
 
Reason for
decision:
Following a review
of data in relation to dog fouling and the Council’s current
engagement and enforcement approach, there was a widespread issue
across the borough. The table of statistics in appendix 3 to the
report, breaks down the reported incidents for a 5 year period from
2020 – 2024.
 
The nuisance that
was caused by dog fouling was clear and these issues demonstrated
the detrimental effect that this behaviour had on people’s
quality of life.
 
Many local
authorities across the country had successfully implemented Public
Space Protection Orders that seek to address the issue arising due
to dog fouling like those being proposed here.
 
The council
intended to adopt an engagement approach to dealing with the second
proposed condition of the PSPO. Where a person cannot demonstrate
they have the means to pick up after a dog has fouled but an
incident is not witnessed on the first occasion they would be
advised this is an offence under the Public Space Protection Order.
Further offences would be considered for enforcement
action.
 
Alternatives
considered and rejected:
The following
alternative options were available for members to
consider

1)    
Members could decide not to proceed with the PSPO in its
entirety.

2)    
Members could agree to proceed with only one of the two
proposed prohibitions.

3)    
Members could request a wider PSPO to address other dog
control measures (although this is something that officers intend
to review and come back to members with at a later date following
successful implementation of the dog-fouling enforcement
arrangements).
A wider PSPO
addressing other dog control measures could be reviewed at this
time or a later date. These measures could include measures such
as
• Dog
exclusion areas
• Areas dogs
are only permitted on a lead
• Maximum
number of dogs able to be walked at one time
• Powers to
direct owners to put dogs on a lead on request.
 
Other powers that
were available to the council and police to enforce on anti-social
behaviour relating to the proposed prohibitions had been considered
however these were not seen as being as effective as what the
proposed PSPO would be.
 
These powers were
to issue Community Protection Notices (CPNs), also under the
Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 or to issue
notice under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which addresses
persistent fouling on private land as a statutory
nuisance.