Dog ban for Lancashire cemetery where pets foul on graves could become 'racially tense issue'

Hyndburn Council’s cabinet on Wednesday confirmed the additional dog control measures at the municipal graveyard in Burnley Road.

Now the authority will fence off the section of the cemetery where Muslim graves are located to keep it pet-free, and amend the existing long-standing Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) so the new rule can be enforced.

It comes after years of complaints from relatives about the distress caused by dogs walking through that area.

The move was chosen after the council dismissed an alternative measure to ban dogs from the whole graveyard.

Borough environment boss Cllr Stewart Eaves told Wednesday’s meeting: “After receiving complaints for a number of years from families with graves in Accrington Cemetery, cabinet is proposing to strengthen dog control measures in the part of the cemetery where most complaints have been received.

“We appreciate that Accrington Cemetery is a green open space as well as a burial ground and want to take a balanced approach to dog control as we know and appreciate that local residents use the cemetery for leisure walks or walking their dog as well as visiting family graves.

“A number of options were open to the council including banning dogs from the cemetery completely.

“However I felt this would have been unnecessary and would have prevented people walking their dogs in the cemetery as they have for many years.

“Therefore the proposal is to create a fenced off dog free zone along the footpath adjacent to Whitewell Road.

“A considerable number of dog walkers come into the cemetery via the pedestrian access on Whitewell Road and turn left as they walk down to the bottom of the cemetery.

“As such this footpath gets a considerable amount of dog walking traffic.

“Putting gates at either end means that the area is still accessible to cemetery visitors but provides a barrier to dogs going down the footpath.

“Dog walkers can still use the rest of the cemetery for dog walking and the different routes will hopefully spread about dog walking routes throughout the cemetery.”

Conservative group opposition leader Cllr Zak Khan welcomed the move and said the issue was clearly distressing to relatives adding: “Only a small area will be affected.”

But he said some social media posts about the ban showed it could be a potentially ‘racially tense issue’.

Cllr Khan said there would need to be a clear and careful communications strategy about the change to defuse any such problems.

Hyndburn Council leader Cllr Munsif Dad assured him this would be the case and that it would make clear that everything had been ‘done properly’.

He added: “This has been an ongoing issue from a long time. This is probably the best solution we could find.”