P-04-477 Support for the Control of Dogs (Wales) Bill

P-04-477 Support for the Control of Dogs (Wales) Bill

Completed

 

We call on the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to proceed with the Control of Dogs (Wales) Bill.

 

We, the undersigned, residents of Wales, call on the Welsh Government to proceed with its Control of Dogs (Wales) Bill in tackling the issue of dangerous and menacing dogs and not rely on the piecemeal proposals of the UK Government set out in its draft Anti-social Behaviour Bill and initially explained in the its White Paper “Putting Victims First, More Effective Responses to Anti-social Behaviour”.

 

We agree with the Welsh Government’s statement “The clear advantage of a Dog Control Notice (DCN) over all existing legislation is that a court may never become involved thereby reducing the burden on public finance” and we believe that the UK Governments proposals involving 4 different enforcement tools, namely –

 

  • injunctions to prevent nuisance and annoyance;
  • crime Behaviour Orders;
  • dispersal Powers;
  • community Protection Notices;

 

two of which – Injunctions and Crime Behaviour Orders – must be initiated by applications to the court, are unduly complicated, cumbersome, bureaucratic and will lead to delay.

 

We believe the single all-encompassing Dog Control Notice proposed for Wales is by far the superior approach and we urge the Welsh Government to frame a law based on this concept as originally planned. We draw the Welsh Government’s attention to (i) the highly critical conclusions of the House of Commons Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs report “Dog Control and Welfare’’ which called the UK Government’s proposals as “simplistic” and “woefully inadequate” & recommended DEFRA and the Home Office to introduce Dog Control Notices and (ii) to the fact that the campaign coalition of Unions, Animal Charities, Police, Vets are also unhappy with the proposals.

 

Status

This petition was considered completed by the Petitions Committee at its meeting on 25/02/2020.

The Committee considered further correspondence and agreed to close the petition in light of the length of time that it has been under consideration and because legislative powers over this issue are now reserved to the UK Parliament under the Wales Act 2017. The Committee thanked the petitioner for raising this issue through the petitions process.

Full details of the consideration of this petitions by the committee and related documents can be seen on the Meetings tab above.

It was first considered by the Petitions Committee on 30/04/2013.

 

Petition raised by:  Cllr. Dilwar Ali

 

Date petition first considered by Committee:  30 April 2013

 

Number of signatures: 1119

Business type: Petition

Reason considered: Senedd Business;

Status: For consideration

First published: 22/04/2013