Dog Control Orders (Prescribed Offences and Penalties, etc.) Regulations 2006

My Lords, I welcome these regulations. I certainly remember the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act, not least because of the speed with which it passed through your Lordships’ House. It was effectively guillotined by the general election. Nevertheless, we were pleased to see its introduction. There has probably been nothing more burdensome, especially for parish councils, than the old burden of making by-laws as regards dogs. When councils had to deal with children’s playgrounds and so on, the implementation of provisions took up a lot of their meeting time. I presume that if the primary authority makes an order which covers its whole district and employs, for example, dog wardens or environmental wardens who deal with dog fouling, it will be able to work within the parishes. In the Liberal Democrat-controlled authorities that is usually how it works. The ““reasonable excuse”” clause will have to be tried over time. I hope that it will not prove to be a large loophole for people. We welcome the regulations. One of the differences in London has been that, when autumn comes, one can walk through the piles of leaves mostly without fear. The order will improve the situation still further.