Rother District Council - NO Hunt Parade

Hunts should NOT be treated differently to residents, RDC

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Dear Cllrs,

On 26th December 2023, a high-risk, controversial event is set to take place in Battle. The East Sussex & Romney Marsh Hunt and the South Downs & Eridge Hunt (amalgamated) will be holding their annual Boxing Day Meet, and they will be bringing around 30 unleashed dogs to the event.

In 2021, Rother District Council (RDC) imposed a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) in Battle, legally requiring dog owners to put their dogs on leads and clear up immediately if their dog defecates. The order was issued for reasons of public health and safety.

Rother District Council has issued 66 Fixed Penalty Notices to individuals for contravention of the order. The council is willing to fine individuals who bring just one dog into the area without a lead.

However, RDC has decided in advance that they will not enforce the PSPO for the hunts on Boxing Day. This means that they are allowing thirty unleashed dogs to run about in the area, defecating where they please, with no requirement for the owners to clear up the faeces or keep the public safe from their free-roaming dogs.

It is clear that the council applies one rule for the public and quite another for the hunts.

By announcing in advance that the hunts will not be subject to the PSPO, RDC are facilitating law-breaking. The council cannot “suspend” the PSPO, which means that taking a dog into the area without a lead is still an offence. The law will still be broken by the hunts on Boxing Day – unless they put their dogs on leads, or not bring them to the area at all.

This decision not to enforce the law for the hunt alone is deeply unfair for any local who walks a dog in the area – and in particular for anyone who has been fined. It also shows that the RDC is not in fact committed to their own PSPO, if they can so easily lift it for the hunt. Local Councils must obey the rule of law; the advance decision not to enforce this law just for the hunt is unacceptable.

The hunt meet does not need to take place in Battle. The hunt is not even local: it is based in Ringmer twenty miles away. If they want to display unleashed hounds, they should do this on private land.

I am asking you to change this decision and apply the law to the hunt in exactly the same way you do for everyone else.

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