Christopher Clayton, of De Tracey Park, Bovey Tracey, sends us a copy of the letter he has sent to Bovey Tracey Town Council and to Geoff Coish, of Bovey Tracey:

I am writing this in response to Bovey Tracey Town Council's decision to ban dogs from the Recreation Ground from June 1.

I am extremely disappointed the council has felt that the approach of banning all dogs because of the abuse by a handful of irresponsible dog owners is the best method to approaching this sensitive situation.

I assume that to enforce this ban Bovey Tracey Town Council will actively be advising of penalties and enforcement measures and prosecuting offenders, an approach they should have adopted with the initial issue of dog owners not cleaning up after their dog. So why decide to go heavy-handed now when they were not before?

Perhaps, they have got what they wanted all along, which is dogs off the recreation ground – none of the comments from the councillors offer any words of regret for those owners who respectfully do what they can to ensure their dog behaves and leave the recreation in the manner it was found while enjoying exercise for both dog owner and the dog.

The issue of health is one they are obviously keen to stress to us but dig deeper and I am sure it doesn't hold up. If transmission of toxocara has been a health issue experienced at the Recreation Ground I would assume the councillors would have statistics to back up how many cases had been reported at Bovey Tracey Riverside Surgery, and then how many of these can be traced back to the Recreation Ground. my understanding is that it would be none.

It is also important to be aware that transmission of toxocara to humans has to be through ingestion and therefore the person or child would actually have to swallow the faeces. I would hope that any child or adult in a park that had faeces on them and then decided to eat it was at the time also in the care of a responsible adult who would know to clean them up and then get them checked out at their local doctors.

I noted in the minutes that the councillors were keen to stress that 'the situation had got worse', but that they leave out any actual figures to substantiate any claims... mainly because I expect that it is subjective and no real analysis of the problem has taken place.

As a dog owner, and a player and committee member of Bovey Tracey Cricket Club, I want to point out that in my last three years of playing cricket at Bovey Tracey Cricket Club on the Recreation Ground I have only seen one occasion where we have had to move dog faeces off the playing pitch. I can also say that in that same time I have seen more than five times members of the public ignoring the cricket match taking place on the recreation ground and being hit hard by a ball. I would suggest that young children are far more at risk of being hit by a cricket or football than they ever being diagnosed with toxocara.

I am also keen to highlight how many visitors come to watch sport taking place with their dog by their side, so not only will the ban remove support for our town's teams but it will also stop people from actively involving themselves in our community – to some it's nice to walk their dog but it's better to do it while watching some local sport. a lot of people do not have time to do both.

The council has taken a course of action that is naive and contains the same ill-thought that mirrors the behaviour of that small minority of ignorant dog owners who leave their dog faeces on the Recreation Ground.

The council could have resolved this simply by actively and publicly punishing those that did the crime. However, they have adopted the approach that everyone is guilty by association... with this stance they have proved themselves lazy in their approach to meeting the needs of all the members of Bovey Tracey – and with that in my mind it is a sad day in Bovey Tracey and I hold the councillors as well as the ignorant dog owners entirely responsible.

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