Wandsworth Council plans to ban dogs from local parks and to force dog owners to keep their dogs on leads on all public footways and highways. The consultation on these proposals ends this Friday despite many dog owners being unaware of the plans and not having had their say.

Local MP Sadiq Khan criticised Wandsworth Council for not consulting effectively with dog owners and wrote to the Chief Executive of Wandsworth Council to request that the consultation period be extended by 4 weeks. You can read the letter here

Sadiq Khan MP said “I have been contacted by concerned local residents who have only learnt of this consultation very late in the day. I am concerned that many local dog owners are unaware of the plans and that the consultation has not been advertised widely enough.”

“I have written to Gerald Jones, Chief Executive of Wandsworth Council asking him to extend the consultation period by 4 weeks so that dog owners have a chance to respond to the proposal.”

“Local vets were not made aware of these proposals. Vets surgeries would be the ideal place to display information about the proposals. I cannot understand why this has not happened.”

Under the proposals dogs would be banned from, the whole of or specified areas of, a number of public places across the Borough including:

• Battersea Park
• Furzedown Recreation Ground
• Garratt Park
• Tooting Bec Common
• Tooting Graveney Common
• Upper Tooting Park
• Wandsworth Common
• And Wandsworth Park