Port Erin Commissioners says it won't be banning dogs permanently from beach

It follows a petition which claimed it would be changing its byelaws 

Port Erin Commissioners says claims in a petition which said it was banning dogs from the beach were false.

At its meeting last night, the board discussed a Facebook post which claimed one of the new commissioners would be proposing the change.

Both Jimmy Cubbon and Karl Drinkwater, who were elected in July, denied they were planning to put forward the motion.

Mr Cubbon said the post had ‘questioned’ his ‘integrity’ as a member of the board and made them look ‘foolish’.  

Clerk Jason Roberts confirmed that he was ‘not aware’ of any proposals from the returning board members or new members with regards to changing the byelaws.

The current byelaws were approved in March 2024 and will be in place for the next 10 years.

Under these restrictions dogs are prohibited from Port Erin Beach between 10am and 7pm from the 1 May and 30 September. 

Chair of the commissioners Hannah Mackenzie said the petition was ‘nonsense’.

She added that the consultation of the current set of byelaws was ‘well received’ and between 300 and 500 people responded to it.

Mrs Mackenzie also told the meeting that the restrictions are in place to try to protect staff from dog poo when doing gardening work.

The board agreed to accept questions from those in attendance; one member of the public asked how many dog poo related health and safety incidents had been reported.

However, Mr Cubbon said the local authority shouldn’t wait for a member of staff to ‘lose an eye’ to do something about the issue.

Another resident asked how many people have been fined since the byelaws were introduced and the clerk confirmed none have been issued.

However, he said it’s about someone being in the right place at the right time and if a dog owner is caught, they’re challenged with either a fine or picking up the waste.

The board agreed not to change any of the dog byelaws at the current time.