Decision details

To approve in principle the proposal to review, extend and vary the Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) for dog control across the city and authorise officers to carry out consultation as required.

Matter for Decision

The Public Spaces Protection Order (Dog Control) 2017 (“Order”) is due to expire on the 19 October 2023, having been successfully reviewed and extended for three years in 2020. At any point before expiry of the Order, the Council can vary or extend it by up to three years if they consider it is necessary to prevent the original behaviour (for which it was introduced) from occurring or recurring.

The Officer’s report revisited the terms of the current Order (Appendix A), and asked the Executive Councillor to approve, in principle, the proposal to extend and vary the Order in respect of dog control (including dog fouling, dog exclusion, seasonal dog on leads requirements, means to pick up faeces, dogs on leads and restriction on number of dogs requirements) within Cambridge, in the form set out at Appendix B and the locations set out in Appendix C; and to authorise officers to publicise the proposed orders and to consult, as required by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 (“The Act”).

Decision of Executive Councillor for Open Spaces, Food Justice and Community Development

      i.         Approved the proposal to extend and vary the Order for dog control within Cambridge in the form set out at Appendix B and the locations set out in Appendix C; and

    ii.         Authorised officers to publicise the proposed Order, as set out in Appendix B and C of the Officer’s report, and to carry out consultation as required by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

Reason for the Decision

As set out in the Officer’s report.

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Not applicable.

Scrutiny Considerations

The Committee received a report from the Community Engagement and Enforcement Manager.

The Community Engagement and Enforcement Manager said the following in response to Members’ questions:

      i.         A Public Spaces Protection Order would only be implemented after consultation to ascertain what the public wanted. Details on the consultation process were set out on P66-67 of the Officer’s report.

    ii.         A Public Spaces Protection Order would be in place for up to 3 years. It could be reviewed or renewed any time. Officers tended to review how a Public Spaces Protection Order was working in order to recommend amendments for the next one.

   iii.         Public Spaces Protection Orders were considered for all City Council owned open spaces. If one was considered necessary Officers would observe an area, then write reports using public comments as evidence to ensure recommendations reflected how people wanted the area to be used.

  iv.         People could report issues to the Police or City Council via its webform. Noted Councillor suggestion to list website details as posters in areas covered by Public Spaces Protection Orders so people could see the areas affected.

    v.         The Community Engagement and Enforcement Manager did not recommend implementing a Public Spaces Protection Order or ‘dogs on lead restriction’ for unfenced open areas as there was no clear barrier to enforce/separate where a dog should not go.

  vi.         There had been no complaints about dogs in Lammas Land since 2017 so the Public Spaces Protection Order had been removed from play areas in this location.

The Committee unanimously resolved to endorse the recommendations.

The Executive Councillor approved the recommendations.

Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted)

No conflicts of interest were declared by the Executive Councillor.