Authority aims to give dog control more bite

CONSULTATION has started in Leeds on powers that could impose new controls on dogs and add responsibilities to their owners.

Dog control orders could allow Leeds City Council to ban dogs from certain areas of the city, designate areas where owners must keep their dogs on leads and restrict the number of dogs that can be walked by one person at a time.

Under the regulations, dog owners in Leeds could be instructed to put their dogs on leads if they are likely to cause annoyance or disturbance.

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The Council's consultation exercise asking residents what they think of these powers and how, and where, they could be applied. closes on August 31.

Anyone found guilty of breaching the orders could be fined as much as 1,000.

Councillor Tom Murray, the Council's executive board member for environmental services, said: "Irresponsible dog owners are a problem, blighting parks and streets with their pet's mess and failing to properly control their animals.

"Yet using these new powers would obviously be a fundamental change in the way we deal with the problem.

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"Before we decide which of these measures could help us deal with these issues, we need to know what the public think – whether they own a dog or not.

"Only then can we make an appropriate judgment of how we should to apply these new rules."

A questionnaire is online at www.leeds.gov.uk/dogs while copies can be requested by calling 0113 395 1765 or emailing [email protected]

Alternatively, a copy of the consultation documents, maps and lists identifying potential sites can be inspected at Knowsthorpe Gate, Cross Green, Leeds LS9 0NP.