‘Danger’ option for barred dog owners

Apr 18 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal

DOG owners keen to exercise their pets say they are being pointed in the direction of danger by council chiefs who have banned dogs from a Northumberland village beach.

Despite a protest petition signed by more than 1,000 local people, dogs have been barred from going on the sands in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea since March 1 in a move aimed at keeping the beach clean and safe for families to enjoy.

Wansbeck Council has put up signs on the promenade informing dog owners that there is an alternative area where they can exercise their pets, at East Sea Sands near the village’s Church Point caravan site.

However, dog lovers say the area is isolated, hard to access and potentially dangerous, and is no substitute for being able to walk or run their animals along the village’s recently recharged main beach.

The Journal revealed yesterday how a greyhound owned by local couple Ann and Rob Common had to have its leg amputated after being injured while running across the moorland which adjoins East Sea Sands. Nineteen-month-old Dot suffered a broken leg after putting her paw in a hole while running off from the seafront and racing across uneven ground.

Mrs Common, who lives with her husband in Welfare Crescent, Newbiggin, claims Dot’s horrific injury is a direct result of the blanket ban on dogs using the beach.

Yesterday school caretaker Colin Hawkshaw, 35, of Meldon Terrace, Newbiggin, who organised the protest petition against the ban, said the signs on the promenade were encouraging dog owners to use an area which was potentially dangerous.

“East Sea Sands is not a safe place to exercise dogs because the access is so dangerous. The only access points are along a mud and dirt track, through the caravan park along the cliff edge or across the moor.

“It is a totally unsuitable area for dogs and the council should not be advising people to go there with these signs.”

A council spokesman said the signs on Newbiggin promenade made people aware of the ban on dogs using the beach, which was recharged last summer by importing 500,000 tonnes of sand from the Lincolnshire coast.

“These signs also advise owners that they can take their dogs on to the shore north of Church Point, and elsewhere in the district. They also point out that dogs should be under the control of their owners at all times. It is up to individual owners where they actually exercise their dogs, other than on Newbiggin beach.”