Review of the Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) for dog ownership 2023

Tell us what you think about expanding the Public Space Protection Order we have in place to deal with issues arising from irresponsible dog ownership.

What was the outcome?

A new PSPO will come into force on 1 June 2023. It reflects the views from the consultation, which attracted 844 responses from the general public and organisations such as the Kennel Club, police, and town and parish councils. The Order increases the list of offences from six to nine.

A proposal to introduce a seasonal dog ban on Seaham's small slope beach has not occurred as there was low support for it and we received a 1,240 name petition objecting to it, with some local businesses concerned about a potential negative impact on trade.

You can read about the PSPO on our Enforcement powers for irresponsible dog owners page.

Background

We introduced Enforcement powers for irresponsible dog owners in 2017 to tackle issues in local communities from irresponsible dog ownership. The order, which was supported by 80% of people who responded to our consultation, makes it an offense to:

allow a dog to foul without picking it up
allow a dog to stray
fail to put a dog on a lead when asked to do so by an authorised person (council staff, neighbourhood wardens or police officer)
allow a dog in a fenced off play area it should not be in (a notice will be displayed warning of this)

Owners can be issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice (fine) of £100 if they do any of these things.

The introduction of the PSPO has helped us:

create safer and more welcoming play areas
reduce the number of stray dogs
tackle dog fouling issues

What we proposed

Despite these improvements, dog fouling and other dog related issues remain a key area of concern for communities across the county. We therefore proposed to expand the PSPO to tackle other issues. The current PSPO runs to May 2023, so we asked for your views on expanding the PSPO to include the following.

Dog walkers to walk a maximum of six dogs at once

Dog ownership has increased over the past few years and there has been a subsequent increase in professional dog walkers. This measure will help with public safety and has been introduced in other local council areas.

All dogs in an open space to have a collar and tag

The collar and tag must have the owner's contact details recorded on it.

Legally, pet dogs must wear a collar with their owner's information when in a public space. You could be fined up to £500 if it does not have one. These details can be inscribed on the collar itself or written on a plate or badge attached to your dog's collar.

It is also a requirement for your dog to be microchipped. When we pick up stray dogs, a significant number are not microchipped. The requirement in the PSPO to have a collar and tag will help return dogs to their owners more quickly.

A seasonal ban on dogs on the 'slope' beach at Seaham

This will cover the summer months (May to September) between the hours of 10.00am and 3.00pm.

Seasonal controls of dogs are something that many other councils have employed to keep their beaches safe and clean for visitors.

The 'slope' beach is a small sandy beach in the marina area of Seaham and is a busy location for visitors and dog walkers.

A survey of how the 'slope' beach was used between the hours of 10.00am and 6.00pm was carried out in the 2022 summer holidays ahead of putting this proposal forward. It showed that there were a relatively small number of dogs on the beach during those times but that 60% of these were not on leads.

It is proposed, therefore, to ban dogs from the 'slope' beach between the hours of 10.00am to 3.00pm daily between May and September, in order to balance the needs of visitors, which are often families with young children, dog walkers and local businesses.

This approach will allow dog owners to use the 'slope' beach outside of those times and, as no controls are proposed for other beaches in the area, Seaham still provides plenty of opportunities for people to walk their dogs by the sea, during the day, in the summer months.