Dog orders saga continues as council calls extraordinary meeting

The ongoing saga over whether to bring in dog control orders in Haddenham has taken a new turn.
STOCK IMAGE: Dogs walking on a leadSTOCK IMAGE: Dogs walking on a lead
STOCK IMAGE: Dogs walking on a lead

Haddenham Parish Council narrowly agreed to pass the controversial proposal for the orders at its latest council meeting on September 1.

But a week after the motion was voted through by four to three, with one person abstaining, an extraordinary general meeting has been called for tomorrow night (Monday) to reconsider the decision.

Chairman Margaret Aston emailed all councillors on Tuesday afternoon, calling the extra meeting in light of ‘new information’ received from Aylesbury Vale District Council.

The issue was discussed at length by councillors at their July meeting.

A decision was then taken to obtain a dog control order.

A public consultation was then held on the issue throughout August with the majority of feedback received being against introducing the orders.

Haddenham resident Freda Dorrell, of Willis Road said: “The situation is very confusing and I think the council could have handled it better.

“Personally, I am against the orders because I can’t see how something like this can be enforced.

“This is a complete and utter waste of time and money.”

Fellow villager Professor Sir Roderick Floud, who called on the parish council to consider introducing the orders said: “A lot of people are against the orders because they can’t see how they will be enforced.

“If you think about when it became compulsory to wear seatbelts or when the smoking ban was introduced, there were concerns that these would be hard to enforce.

“I think when people know that these laws are there it does act as a deterrant and they change their behaviour.”