Dog Walkers

Hello! 

I'm writing to you as someone who has been in touch with me previously about the provision of services for local dog owners and concerns about safety for dogs in our local parks to share with you the response I have had from the local authority about their current consultation into dog control orders. 

A number of you have raised this with me and your concerns about both the proposals and the process of consultation. I appreciate that these suggestions are very controversial, and as MP I do not have any authority over the decisions made by the local authority. However, given this is of concern to many dog owners in Walthamstow I wanted to ensure you had the details I have been given to date so that you could participate in this process to ensure your views are heard. In addition to the below I am currently seeking further information from the local authority on the research and background to these proposals and the details of any public meetings or consultation events which local residents can attend. I will of course share these with local residents as soon as I receive them. 

I hope that this information is of interest to you and that you will ensure you contribute to this process given the previous discussions we have had regarding dog ownership and control in Walthamstow. 

with kind regards

Stella 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Scott Cartwright <Scott.Cartwright@walthamforest.gov.uk>
Date: Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 11:01 AM
Subject: RE: Dog walking consultation
To: "stellacreasy@gmail.com" <stellacreasy@gmail.com>
Cc: Ben Hardy <Ben.Hardy@walthamforest.gov.uk>

Dear Stella Creasy MP,

Thank you for your email.;

Please find consultation document at http://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/ which provides residents the opportunity to feed directly into the process by completing the online survey. It is important for the council to listen to residents views and that is why a public meeting is being requested to discuss Lloyd Park in particular, which representatives of the council are attending. We will of course try to accommodate similar meeting requests but we must bear in mind that we may not be able to address every resident due to the sheer volume of interest into this consultation.

I think it important to note that whilst this review is important to ensure the continued safety of our parks/open spaces and addressing issues of irresponsible owners, the council is making only 8 changes to the current orders that cover 56 areas in total and which have been in place since 2006. Of those 8 changes the council are proposing to make safe area’s for dog walkers to exercise their dogs off lead whilst allowing other park/open spaces users to enjoy their visits without being concerned of dogs being off leads.

The consultation finishes on 25^th March 2013, after which the results will be analysed and a final report incorporating the proposals and all residents comments drafted for Cabinet.

Regards

Scott

Scott Cartwright

Joint Team Leader - Dog Enforcement Team

London Borough of Waltham Forest & Haringey

Waltham Forest Council

Environmental Health

Room 101 Sycamore House

Forest Road

Walthamstow

London

E17 4JF

T 0208-496-2225

E scott.cartwright@walthamforest.gov.uk

W http://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/

From: stellacreasy@gmail.com [mailto:stellacreasy@gmail.com] On Behalf Of stella creasy
Sent: 07 March 2013 13:29
To: Scott Cartwright; Ben Hardy; jchambers
Subject: Dog walking consultation

Hi Scott

I have been contacted by a number of local residents concerned about a recently announced consultation on dog control in Walthamstow. I would be grateful if you could provide me with:

a) a copy of the consultation

b) what plans the local authority has to discuss these and any responses with local residents

c) details of how residents can feed directly into this process

d) the timescale for this process

I'm copying in ben from the council's PR team to add this into the list of requests for information I'm making in case there's any confusion as to what information I'm seeking from the local authority on their policies.

kind regards

Stella