Members of the Isle of Wight Scrutiny Committee held a special meeting last night to consider a Call-in of the Executive decision made earlier this month over whether dogs should be kept on leads St Helens Duver.
The Executive members had previously voted against a recommendation by officers to refuse the amendment to the Dogs on Leads Order.
The Call-in was led by the Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee, Geoff Lumley (LAB) who argued the consultation showed there was “insufficient evidence that dogs affected the use and enjoyment of this beach” during the prohibition period. As well as going through the reasons for taking the action, he added the key reason for the Call-in was “not whether an order should be made but the process by which the action of the Executive was arrived at”.
The committee unanimously agreed as follows :-
THAT the Scrutiny Committee considers that without adherence to formal consultation time periods and outcomes the Council’s reputation will be entirely undermined and perhaps raise legal risks.
We note that the formal consultation outcomes on this proposed Amendment Order were clearly against the implementation of such an Order and that the earlier local survey by St Helens Parish Council in 2011 was well outside the formal consultation.
We also note that the Parish Council seemingly failed to engage its residents with this formal consultation despite requesting it of this Council. We also note that there was no actual vote by the Executive on 5 August 2014 to implement the Amendment Order; only a vote against the Executive Member’s recommendation not to implement the Order.
Therefore, we urge the Executive:
a) to respect the outcome of the formal consultation on this Order;
b) to amend Executive Decision 59 as it is recorded in the draft Minutes, by removing the words “therefore an amendment should be made”;
c) to confirm that it will not implement the Amendment Order at St Helens Duver.
Image: nicksie2008 under CC BY 2.0
