Bye Laws- exclusion of dogs from recreation areas

Question

Our council seem confused with the byelaws for the recreation areas in the village and seem to think that because they have been in force for quite a few years now somehow dog exclusion is no longer  relevant and that they cannot enforce the no dogs aspect  of the byelaws. They seem confused with the fact that new byelaws have to be passed by the secretary of state( 2016) and as there is an apparent backlog in processing ( 2024) they must remain in limbo and powerless. I can find nothing in any of the legislation to see that byelaws have all been repealed or have to be renewed.

Any bye law experts out there?

Answer 1

No but if you want to exclude dogs go down the PSPO route.  These orders are controlled by District Councils but PCs can apply to create new ones providing they go through a given process which involves public consultation .  The problem is that DCs tend to renew existing orders every three years ie matters are not kept under continuous review.    Here however is an exception 

Tackling anti-social behaviour at Abbots Pool | North Somerset Council (n-somerset.gov.uk)

Answer 2

Byelaws do not cease to have validity over time, unless the actual byelaw includes a termination date, which would be very unusual. So if you have an existing byelaw made in accordance with the legal requirements at that time, it is still enforceable. I agree with everything Prestonfan says about PSPO's as a way of addressing dog exclusion.

If you want to create new byelaws or amend the existing ones, the process became simpler in 2016 with the delegation of powers to local councils through The Byelaws (Alternative Procedure) (England) Regulations 2016. Parish, Town or District councils undertake all of the preliminary work, drafting (often using a model wording) public consultation, impact assessment etc. The new process includes consent from the Secretary of State, but the turnaround time for this is limited to 30 days. There is detailed information about the process and timelines on Gov.uk.

Comments

Thanks, It is as I thought and just shows what confusion and incorrect decision making can be caused by mis-interpretation of changes in legislation and misunderstanding by councillors who do not bother to do their homework completely before labouring a point. This has led to unnecessary spending of precept monies carrying out fencing work to omit dogs when there was a perfectly good byelaw in-situ.