At the Extra-ordinary meeting of Haddenham Parish Council held on Monday evening, 15th September, a decision was made to rescind the new Dog Control order that had been passed a fortnight earlier. The meeting itself left some members of the public somewhat perplexed. Following formal requests for clarification, Haddenham Parish Council responded with the following statement.
Statement from Haddenham Parish Council
16th September 2014
On 1st September 2014 Haddenham Parish Council (HPC) voted 5:4 in favour of the principle of making Dog Control Orders (DCO's) to enforce the exclusion of dogs from Haddenham's children's play areas, playing fields and the allotments and to keep dogs on leads along the footpaths surrounding these areas.
The Council then voted 5:0 (with some councillors abstaining) to introduce six specific DCO's to give effect to this in the parks, playing fields and allotments of Haddenham.
Following the meeting, in response to a question raised by a member of the public, the Parish Council sought further clarification from Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) regarding the impact these DCO's would have on AVDC's existing DCO's which were issued under the Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act 1996 and which are enforced by them.
AVDC's interpretation was that while the guidelines on this are very unclear, it was the opinion of the legal department at AVDC that the new DCO's would supersede the existing Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act 1996 DCO's which would mean that AVDC would not be able to enforce this offence (fouling) in the areas in Haddenham which the new DCO's had specified as "dogs on leads" areas.
In the light of this information the Clerk received three letters from members of the Parish Council asking that a proposal to rescind the DCO's be considered, and therefore the Chairman called an Extra-Ordinary Meeting as any change to the decision needed to be made before the date on which public notices for the new DCO's had to be sent to the press for publication (17th September).
At that Extra-ordinary Meeting it was agreed by 7:0 with 1 abstention to rescind the six specific DCO's and to work instead with AVDC both under the current legislation and using the new powers they will acquire when the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 comes in to force, so that AVDC's orders will be the means by which the principle agreed at the HPC September 1st meeting is legally enforced.
