I refer to the article in the Okehampton Times 23/06/22 edition concerning the town council’s rejection of fencing around the play areas in Simmons Park.

As a former honorary secretary of Okehampton RFC (the opinions here are my own), it is the fouling of the sports pitches that particularly concerns me. I have regularly observed people deliberately walking their dogs on the pitches and running loose, despite their being notices around the area asking them to keep dogs off the sports pitches. I am a dog owner, and when I walk him in Simmons Park and past the sports pitches I keep him to the path around the area, the ‘narrow walkways’ referred to in the article, which are the only space that dog owners should use.

Team coaches, and I am sure, school sports teachers, have to check the pitches for faeces before allowing young players onto the pitches to prevent them getting faces on their clothes and more importantly into their eyes or cuts. Dogs can carry diseases that cause blindness, blood poisoning and even death if the players get faecal matter into the eyes, or cuts and grazes or ingests it, but some dog owners seem oblivious to this. The facts concerning the transmission of disease through dog faeces are readily verifiable.

The Public Spaces Protection Order 01/01/20 has a paragraph that states:

‘Keep the dog to the boundaries of sports pitches if possible, as even after picking up, residual deposits can be left. Many complaints are received concerning sports pitches from the players, who can get dog mess on themselves during a game.’

This means that even if a dog owner does pick up the faeces some residual faecal matter can be left behind, which is dangerous to the children using the pitches or play area.

The only way to fully protect players, both children and adults, from this danger, is to ban dogs completely from these areas by erecting fences around them. It is patently obvious that people will not comply otherwise, unless a dog warden fines them, as is provided for in the order.

Councillors asked if this was really necessary – I submit that the dangers to health inherent in allowing dogs free range on the pitches and play areas make it absolutely necessary. The tacit approval of dogs having free rein that the council’s decision implies is totally unacceptable. I call on the Okehampton Town Council to reverse their decision and ensure that fences are erected around both the play areas and the sports pitches without delay, before someone suffers a serious consequence of a dog owners inability to control their animals or to pick up after them.