Noticed in the local paper that our area wants to do this and ban the dogs from May to September?
Has anyone fought this in their own area???? I know the KC do send out info where plans are proposed for things like this but havent recieved anything as yet for the Wirral................

I dont see why I as a tax payer and who picks up own dog poo and keeps dogs under control should be banished from these areas with my dogs !!!  *rant*

Has anyone successfully beaten this in their area aat all- looking for advice please

DOGS could be banned from some of Merseyside's most popular beaches.

Owners may be barred from taking their pets onto Wirral's beaches during the summer months, possibly from May to September, under new council plans.

Concerns about dog fouling, Wirral's reputation as a tourist destination and the state of the coastline are behind the move.

A new report, which will be considered by a council committee later this month, said officials would have to prove it was a proportionate way of dealing with problems caused by dogs.

It also accepts the ban would be met with anger, saying: "All of the beaches are regularly used by dog walkers, and banning them from using them in the summer months is likely to cause some resentment."

The move would cover Wirral's main bathing beaches in West Kirby, New Brighton's Harrison Drive and Moreton.

Recreational beaches in Thurstaston, Caldy, Red Rocks, Hilbre, Hoylake, Meols, Leasowe and Egremont would also be affected.

If the council presses ahead with the idea, it will not be the first time dogs have been banned from Wirral beaches.

In the 1990s, a ban was tried out in West Kirby, but enforcement difficulties and lack of interest saw it abandoned after two years.

Cllr Jerry Williams, member of the culture, tourism and leisure committee, said: "The report is in relation to a number of concerns raised by members.

"Beaches are of great importance to Wirral and a key part of our tourism strategy.

Councillors will discuss the proposal on Wednesday September 17

apolgies for posting twice-
can an admin member please remove this duplicate posts please-
gremlins playing up on the PC - sorry

And i thought it was me loosing the plot LMAO :D
Lea :) :)

lol
for some reason I had to refresh the screen umpteen times- something I dont normally have to do on CD
Thought it had been removed at first but couldnt figure out why

> Concerns about dog fouling, Wirral's reputation as a tourist destination and the state of the coastline are behind the move.

I wish the councils would do something about all the buried nappies!! They are probably more of a health risk to me and my family than dogs !!
I will also have to cross Wirral off my place to visit list LOL

They were trying to in Brighton and Hove. Not sure what has happened as they did have a large protest and lobby against it.
Currently we have some beaches which are no dogs May-Sept, though there are many which allow dogs all year round.
You would have to go on the council website to see what they are doing in our area.
TBH there is not a huge problem with dog pooh on our beaches, so not sure what their reasons are. They also wanted to ban dogs from certain open green spaces in the city.. Its like so where do you exactly propose we walk our dogs?? The countryside, which means many more people driving there causing more pollution..
Some bright spark you thought of this idea with no real back up of the reason behind it.

Yes, dogs are banned from some of the beaches I go to, not the whole beach just parts of it, mainly the blue flag areas.  So we have signs like dogs to right, no dogs to left! :-)  I can understand why they have done this, maybe a case of irresponsible owners not picking up mess, dogs running up to little kids etc  

I dont see why I as a tax payer and who picks up own dog poo and keeps dogs under control should be banished from these areas with my dogs !!!  *rant*

I agree! :-)

> Noticed in the local paper that our area wants to do this and ban the dogs from May to September?
> Has anyone fought this in their own area????

I live on the sea front with a beach that already has this rule.
I would never want to go on the beach during the summer (May - Sept), even early mornings, as it is full of BBQ debris ( esp. chicken bones), broken glass and other potentially dangerous human litter. And during the day...HUMANS :-(...most of whom turn into dog haters when they are at leisure.
I long for the part of the year when we get the sea front back and surrounding land to ourselves again.

hi all the beach were i live have dogs banned from may-sept on the tourist erea but further down the beach dogs are allowed and it seems to work well.May be ask the council for a dog erea like we have  here its worth a try.I can understand why councils have done this as not all dog owners pick up so spoils it for other who do

My nearest beach bans dogs from April to September. However it has a nature reserve behind it that is ideal for dog walking, and allows dogs between certain groynes.
Basically you have to walk along the nature reserve then up a bank to get to groyne 9 where you can walk with the dog if you wish. This works well and keeps everyone happy. I dont mind it at all.
Yes i am a responsible owner who picks up after my dog, but not everyone does and it is not pleasant to sit down with the kids running around amongst dog poop.

I can understand the ban.  I have cause to feel very guilty about this.  A few weeks ago we took our dog onto a deserted beach (the weather was foul as has been typical this year) although there were people sitting in their cars looking over.  I took poo bags with me as I consider myself a responsible owner.  However, dog has no respect for such things and she squatted and did her poo about 3 yards out in the rolling waves!   We were sooooo embarrassed we made a hasty retreat only to just miss a huge pile of dog poo at the bottom of the steps, obviously done by someone else's dog.

Haha :-) Bless her.
I happen to know a young girl who is losing her sight due to getting the disease from dog poo. She is dealing with it ok but you wouldnt wish it on anyone and for that reason i think its a good idea to keep dogs and kids apart cos you always get a few irresponsible owners who let the majority down and dont pick up after their animals

>>>I will also have to cross Wirral off my place to visit list LOL <<<<<

Fortunately there are lots of other lovely areas and in which to walk dogs on the Wirral but it is sad when the few who make the mess spoil it for others..........
and the point that someone else made and left by about mess from humans is very relevant!!!!!!!

As some one who lives in a tourist area I think that during the summer season we locals are no better then second class citizens, as dog owners we are banned from beaches, run off the roads by tourists who don't know how to negotiate country lanes, and have our land walked over, or driven over, in our case because we have an ungated field, tourists in shiny 4X4's think they can just drive over it and pretend they're of roading.

As others have already said, the beaches are left in a disgraceful state, with human excrement, rubbish and fag ends all over the beautiful sand.

In our district, Kerrier, we managed to negotiate before 7.00am use and a after 7.00pm use of the beach for dog owners, as nice as that is, all it gets you is sarcastic remarks from tourists ignorant of the local bye laws, if only they paid more attention to local bye laws such as wandering across peoples land and gardens at will.

Doesn't it just drive you insane !!! I wouldn't mind so much but, our beach is 'No dogs' to the left and 'Dogs' to the right and without fail every tourist on the Island along with the endless stream of children, bikes, skateboards, wheelchairs and also people fishing HAVE to be along the Dog side !!!!! So, you think to yourself, I will just go when the tide is out and walk right out on the sand but, then you risk sinking into a bloomin great hole dug by the fishermen earlier that day to get their worms :-)

  

Our beach operates a dog area and a non dog area from May to September.
We are lucky as we have quite a good stretch of doggy beach to walk along it takes a good hour and a half when the tides out to walk the length and back.
The only slight thing to be wary of is occasionally horses get excercised on the same strip of beach so its better to keep your dogs on the lead if there any about but otherwise ...no problems.
I guess we are very lucky in our area to be able to do this and it does work quite well.

> we are very lucky in our area

We will all be asking where you are and come there for our holidays and then beach will be too crowded LOL

That is a perfect solution very sensible. People who are there will  obviously expect dogs around as well. Every ones a winner

In our area Hampshire and into Dorset dogs are always banned from May - Sept as is parts of IOW I thought that was countrywide. As it has always been that way and certain areas are ok for dogs - and better than the sandy bits we just got on with it.

Trouble is not all dog owners pick upand the last thing I would have wanted would have been toddlers in dog pooh. So I can understand the ban on v. popular beaches.

> Trouble is not all dog owners pick upand the last thing I would have wanted would have been toddlers in dog pooh. So I can understand the ban on v. popular beaches.

I think that is what causes problems for dogs being allowed anywhere......I always pick up after my dogs as im sure everyone on here does too.
It makes me so mad to see kids playing where dogs have fouled and its been left and to be honest it makes me mad at the beach when i see other people leaving behind their dogs mess. I think a good idea would be to have dog wardens or someone(if the dog wardens couldnt) who can be employed to patrol the beaches to catch people who dont clean up after themselves and thier dogs and be able to fine them...I would gladly do it if such a job was available

Its always the minority spoils it for the majority isnt it?

We have just got back from holidays and spent half a day on a beach in Croatia...the beach was lovley rolling sands and lots of dog walkers never saw any poo...but...fag ends..well the beach was full of them I have never seen so many, and beer cans, plastic bags etc..humans are far dirtier than dogs in my opinion.
I walk every day in a counrty park and am scrupulous in my cleaning up..but the humans leave broken bottles beer cans plastic bags, ends off bbq's, chicken bones, buns , onions ...oh and the odd con*oms, lovely...not!
Our local beach has a dog section and a dog free zone..works well the dog section is usually the cleanest bit?????
Aileen

All of our "tourist" beaches over here already have that rule. I agree with the others that although the majority of us always collect our doggy deposits there are some that always let the side down!

it realy gets to me that my dogs are not allowed on some beaches, we carry bags to clean up after them where ever we go.
on some of our local beaches you can find dirty nappies, condom's, pantie lines ect.
and we ban dog's what about the people who leave this disgusting stuff behind, and they call dogs dirty.

I agree that there is the owner that dose not clean up after there dog and we are all branded the same.

Sue

We went for a holiday in Dorset, West Bay, in August. If there was a ban we didn't see it as nor did the hundreds of dogs and owners we came across. It has to be the most 'dog friendly' holiday place I've ever been to. Our dogs, 2 leos and a rottie, were made welcome by all and sundry, shop keepers, cafes etc and not once did we come across any mess left by dogs. They played on the beach (between rain showers) and no one minded at all. In fact every other family had their dog with them :) Honest, never seen so many dogs in one area, and we have been there before - and not a cross word between any of them :) 
Brilliant place.

Totally agree, with small children its a pain, but what is worse is the lack of public loos, in Boscombe & lee on the solent ect loos are there so its easy to dispose of nappies ect. But lots of areas have no toilets and you do get all sorts of nasty human waste on the beach.
Loads of the ones here have dog bins, car parks with toilets and water taps outside so you can give the dogs a drink, but many country park areas do not have toilet facilities, a lot were removed after vandalism. I think we would have to get it all joined up to give dogs access to beaches all the year round here and the facilities to dispose of animal & human waste. Not to mention the glass and stuff that is also a problem to dog owners.

We too have a beach that bans dogs May-Sept on parts of it, and others are open to dogs all year round. I don't have a problem with it. I look at it a bit like smoking and non-smoking :) Anyhow I agree with Toolz, why can't the non-dog people keep to their 'own' bit :)

In relation to the above comments i have to say that our dog friendly beaches in the summer are still very crowded by people, especially children. My dog is fairly big and in full run he can easily knock anyone over. This does worry me so i actually during the day never go down there due to this.
There are signs in the most popular areas of the beach to say which ones dogs can go on, you get there and it doesn't warn anyone its a dog friendly beach.. Think more signs are in order.

Our council are trying to ban dogs from even being walked along the prom, let alone all the beaches all the year round.. This is something which someone thought was a bight idea without actually thinking of the consequences.. This is in addition to the post i have placed earlier.

Must be awful for a barefooted child to step in dog doos.  However, what councils fail to acknowledge is that you are never going to stop irresponsible pet owners clearing up after their dogs no matter how many bans you put in place.  Where I live I always see someone standing over their pooing pooches with bags or carrying the obvious along with them yet there is still dog poo about on pavements and verges.  This is because the irresponsible owners don't pick up after their dogs when it's dark.  How can you possibly police that?

Hi Philly256

We have a great beach near here too that is open all year for dogs but due to human rubbish and tourists we prefer to stay off it during the summer and some school holidays.  We too have to avoid the occasional horse but we were at the beach on Monday and 'you know who' poohed on top of some fresh horse poo - I didn't have a bag big enough for that!!   I had to go and pick the bits off and explain to the rider, who by that time was on her way back, just what I was doing.  Felt like a right nit...

>> We have a great beach near here too that is open all year for dogs but due to human rubbish and tourists we prefer to stay off it during the summer and some school holidays.&nbsp; We too have to avoid the occasional horse but we were at the beach on Monday and 'you know who' poohed on top of some fresh horse poo - I didn't have a bag big enough for that!!&nbsp;&nbsp; I had to go and pick the bits off and explain to the rider, who by that time was on her way back, just what I was doing.&nbsp; Felt like a right nit...

ROFLMAO.......I can just imagine lol bless you

our beach already does this and quite frankly during the summer we avoid it like the plague anyway, during the winter months its lovely as you generally only get dog walkers down there.

Freds Mum, I see you are in devon and you have described my local beach to a tee - you would be talking about Dawlish Warren would you?

We stayed on a caravan site on the Wirral a few years ago, you could go from the site to the Wirral Way and I have never seen so much dog muck left in one place! You could hardly walk for trying to avoid the piles of it. TBH if this is how the majority of dog walkers in the area still behave then it doesn't surprise me one bit that they want to ban dogs from the beach, but it is infuriating for those of us who do clean up after our dogs!

Hehehe, well done. It was Dawli Warren!!! One of our favourite little haunts  :-)
Where abouts are you then?

I think they are brandishing everyone with the same brush, becuase one person doesnt clean the dog poo up, they ban everyone, these few ppl spoil it for everyone!!
How would they like one of their little babies or a small child they were looking after to run along and fall or stand in the poo their dog has created! Really annoys me, how long does it take to clean it!A second! Im ranting now! ha ha

Freds mum, I live in Dawlish itself, the opposite side from the Warren.

LOL its a small world.  Where abouts are you then?