Record number respond to council's consultation on dog ban reversal

A record number of people responded to a second consultation on dog bans in parts of Scarborough borough.
Proposed changes to the dog ban will be voted on.Proposed changes to the dog ban will be voted on.
Proposed changes to the dog ban will be voted on.

More than 1,200 people responded after Scarborough Council re-opened the consultation following complaints about changes to where dogs could be walked on Whitby beach.

The area where dogs could not go on the beach during the summer season was extended by approximately 150 yards and a number of dog-walkers complained, saying the steps they now had to use to get onto the sand was not safe.

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An online campaign was started and the council agreed to look again at the changes.

The council has is now set to revert back to the restricted area it used in 2017 in order to address the concerns of residents.

A host of other tweaks and changes to areas included in the Public Space Protection Order in Scarborough and Whitby will also be made after further public feedback.

In total, 1,249 people replied to the second consultation, compared to just 314 for the first.

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Harry Briggs, the council’s Environmental Enforcement and Contracts manager, told today’s (Weds) meeting of the authority’s Overview and Scrutiny Board that it was a record for any consultation ever carried out by Scarborough Council.

He said: “It was obviously quite a keen topic for members of the public to get involved in.

“A lot of them said we didn’t do a consultation initially, which we did, unfortunately, they just weren’t aware of it.”

He said that both dog lovers and people not so keen on them had made their views known.

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He added: “You have people who have dogs who want them to be allowed to go everywhere with them and you have other people who are the other way, they don’t want dogs to be anywhere off a lead in public.”

Other changes proposed following the review include the year-round dogs on leads requirement at Scarborough’s North Bay promenade becoming a seasonal restriction.

An all year dogs on leads restriction on a 250m stretch of Scarborough’s South Bay beach in front of the Spa will be scrapped as the areas either side have no such condition imposed.

Dogs on lead restrictions at Kingfisher Drive and Marton Court in Whitby and Merryweather Gardens and St Martin’s Square in Scarborough are also proposed to be dropped as part of the changes.

After being backed by the Overview and Scrutiny Board the proposed changes will next go to the council’s cabinet to be voted on.