On 19 June at a meeting in Peckham Town Hall at 7pm Southwark Council will try and introduce a rulling that all dogs be kept on leads in public places including parks.
There is a pettition at  http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Southwarkhowl/
which reads -
On behalf of all the decent dogs and their law abiding owners in Southwark we ask Southwark Council to step back from imposing a borough wide blanket Dog Control Order that requires all dogs, regardless of size or temperament, to be kept on a lead except in a few designated 'dog exercise areas'. To condemn all Southwark's dogs to be confined to leads for the rest of their lives will have very detrimental effects on the physical, psychological and social welfare of dogs and their owners alike.

We also believe that it is bad law to curtail all freedom for the vast majority of well behaved dogs and owners for the sins of a few antisocial animals and their keepers who can and should be prosecuted using existing legislation. We urge the Council to be more proactive in penalising those who do not clear up after their dogs and who actively engage their dogs in vandalism.

"We ask that the existing byelaw remains in place which states that all dogs must be kept under control, which ensures that those who own unsociable animals are required to keep them restrained in public places. We consider the current allocation of dog-free areas and dogs-on-leads areas in our parks, as set out in the 1996 schedule,signed by the Secretary of State, to be fair and equitable and caters well for all park user groups and their needs.

If the Council mandates that a new Dog Control Order is essential we ask that the less draconian one of 'Dogs Must be Placed On Leads When Ordered To Do So' should be adopted and that if this Order is in the form of signage it is not imposed as a blanket policy but decided by local regular users on by a park by park, green space by green space, basis.

We also request the removal of all the Dogs Must Be Kept On Leads signage that has been erected throughout the Southwark parks and green spaces prior to the byelaws being changed and prior to public consultation.

If you have not already signed our written petition and support our request please add your name below and we will present this petition to Southwark's Executive Committee."



and a more direct approach is to mail  Annie.Shepperd@southwark.gov.uk with your concerns re having adequate exercise and socialisation and your right to walk your dog off the lead,
please forward this to all your dog friendly friends