Plans to allow dogs to be walked on local beaches at certain times during the summer season are being ‘strongly opposed’ by Sidmouth Town Council. 

East Devon District Council is proposing to make changes to its Public Space Protection Order covering dog control on beaches. Dogs are currently banned from the exclusion zones on beaches from May until the end of September, but the change would allow them to be walked on the beaches before 9am and after 6pm. 

This would apply to all the beaches that currently have a dog exclusion zone, including Sidmouth’s main beach and Jacob’s Ladder beach. 

The district council opened a consultation on the proposal in October, running until November 20. Sidmouth town councillors discussed it at their meeting on Monday, November 7, and resolved to object to the change. 

They said allowing dogs on to beaches in the early mornings and evenings would lead to ‘confusion, reduced adherence to the rules, increased confrontation between dog owners and other beach users and the additional risk of dog faeces contamination on the beach during the summer months’. 

Sidmouth Town Council is also opposing the removal of another Public Space Protection Order, relating to anti-social behaviour on the seafront. East Devon District Council said ‘the control is no longer proportionate, it was created originally to deal with Sidmouth’s night-time and evening alcohol-related anti-social behaviour along the beach front and the town centre, which no longer has the problems which it historically faced.” 

Town councillors said they did not agree that the anti-social behaviour is a thing of the past. They said: “The ASB PSPO should not be removed from Sidmouth seafront and if any changes were to be made, the control area should be extended further into the town and not reduced as the existing order had been used and supported by Sidmouth Police repeatedly in the past 12 months alone.” 

Anyone wanting to comment on the proposals for dog walking on beaches or the Sidmouth PSPO can email pspoconsultation@eastdevon.gov.uk or send their comments by post to Environmental Health, East Devon District Council, Blackdown House, Border Road, Heathpark Industrial Estate, Honiton, EX14 1EJ.