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Beach Ban at Saint Helens?!?
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Following Sphinx adding a topic to the forums regarding the dog beach ban at Saint Helens and the council informing them that there wasn't one and the maps on the councils website confirming this. However the councils Dog Control Orders are directly contradicting this as they clearly state there is a ban at Saint Helens:
Dog Exclusion Order
Schedule 1 (stating the area the Exclusion Order applies to)
St Helens
The Beach from the Slipway, Northern edge of the Duver for approximately 485 metres to the Southern edge of the beach and in line with the last beach hut.
Now as Sphinx is a regular visitor to the Island and as we all know the Islands economy is heavily dependant on tourism wightdogs felt duty bound to obtain an answer regarding this contradictory information.
However webmaster the member of our team who normally deals with this sort of thing has had restrictions imposed on him by the council for making "vexatious and persistent complaints"and is now only permitted to correspond with one nominated officer of the council who will review his complaints every seven days.
This has nothing whatsoever to do with webmaster exposing that the council themselves ruled the beach ban signs at Appley were wrong over a year ago, but that the council have continued erecting more of the exact same signs insisting that they were correct.
Until they were finally forced into an embarrassing U-turn and admit their blunder a month ago, although all the incorrect signs remain in place to date.
So we have asked webmaster to raise the matter of the dog beach ban at Saint Helens, and the councils advise to holiday makers bringing their dogs to the Island, with the council on wightdogs.com behalf.
We will keep you informed of progress
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3 Comments
Dear Sir,
I am writing to you in my capacity as admin for the wightdogs.com website.
We have had a forum entry from a visitor to the Island , who, as they were intending to holiday with their dog, took the trouble of enquiring as to the status of the beach at Saint Helens, with regard to Dog beach bans.
They received the answer copied below.
As you can see the answer backs up your published maps in that no dog ban exists at Saint Helens.
However your Dog Control Orders state:
Dog Exclusion Order
Schedule 1
· St Helens
The Beach from the Slipway, Northern edge of the Duver for approximately 485 metres to the Southern edge of the beach and in line with the last beach hut.
Would you please arrange for a council statement regarding this contradictory information as the Dog Control Orders have been in place since 2nd May 2008 and consequently Island residents and visitors are totally bewildered by this contradictory information.
We fail to comprehend how you can expect residents let alone visitors to understand the rules if your own officers and dog wardens are unable to do so.
Yours Sincerely
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From: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 15 April 2009 11:50
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: St Helens, Isle of Wight
Mrs xxxxxxxx
Thank you for contacting us with your query.
I can confirm that St Helens Beach is not part of the banned beaches for dogs.
Regards
THE COUNCILS REPLY
Dear xxxxxxxxxxx
Thank you for your enquiry in your capacity as administrator for wightdogs.com. The matter which you raised has been investigated by colleagues in Community Safety.
I am pleased to be able to confirm that the Island visitor referred to in your e-mail was given the right response to their enquiry about the St Helens beach ? it is not one of the banned beaches for dogs.
Although St Helens beach was originally included in the draft of the new Dog Control Order it was removed from the list of the banned beaches as the result of the public consultation feedback.
The up-to-date list of all dog exclusion zones and maps can be found on http://www.iwight.com/dogorders/exclusion.asp
Please dont hesitate to let me know if this is not readily accessible for you and I will arrange to forward a hard copy of the order.
Yours sincerely
SOMETHING DOESNT ADD UP THERE!!
MY REPLY:
Thank you xxxxxxxxxxxx
However as the information I sent you regarding Saint Helens Beaach ban under Schedule 1 of the DCO was copied directly from the councils website, and has since been changed, could you inform me when these alterations were made to the website please.
Your Sincerely
THE COUNCILS ANSWER:
Dear xxxxxxxxx
I have asked the service concerned and they confirm that this information was changed about two weeks ago when they discovered that there was a wrong schedule on the web site.
Yours sincerely
Hmmmm VERY FISHY!!
MY ANSWER:
Dear xxxxxxxxxxx,
When I emailed you on the 9th June the actual wording from Schedule 1 of the DCOs was copied directly from the councils website. This would not have been possible if the Schedule had been changed two weeks ago as you suggest.
Could we please have a definitive answer as to when exactly this information was changed or I will have no alternative other than to obtain it under the Freedom of Information Act.
We do have actually evidence supporting this, and in addition it was brought to our attention by a visitor to the Island on the 30th May as being stated on the councils website: http://www.wightdogs.com/apps/forums/topics/show/818571-st-helens
-beach-appley.
Furthermore could you please inform us of where it was ever stated by the council that the beach at Saint Helen's was not an included in the DCOs as an exclusion zone, as the councils website has been including it as such since the 2nd May 2008.
Your Sincerely
TO BE CONTINUED.....
THE COUNCILS REPLY:
Dear xxxxxxxxx
As promised, colleagues have looked into your question and have confirmed that the updated exclusion page was changed on June 5th 2009. Questions arose as some of the information on that site had been updated during the year. Checks revealed that the site had been updated previously but that some information appears to have reverted to old versions when the website was changed on 17th March this year.
We will now encourage colleagues to check in case similar problems may have emerged on other parts of the councils website thank you for bringing it to our attention.
MY REPLY TO THE COUNCIL:
So Msxxxxxxxx, To summarise:
According to your senior dog warden, on the 15th April, there is no dog ban at Saint Helens:
"I can confirm that St Helens Beach is not part of the banned beaches for dogs."
But according to his supeior Ms xxxxxxx, on the 29th April, there is a ban at Saint Helens:
"... there are areas along the coast line where dogs are entirely excluded. According to the Schedule 1, those are located in East Cowes, Freshwater Bay, Sandown, Seagrove, Shanklin,
St Helens, Totland, Ventnor, Yarmouth and Yaverland. The above mentioned signs are fully applicable in those areas."
And according to the maps on your website there isn't a ban, but the actual statement on your website fluctuated between there being a ban and there not being one, until the 5th of June when the matter was resolved...even though I copied the relevant section from your website on the 9th June and it stated that there was a ban
And I stand accused of making repetitive complaints to this council, that have already been fully addressed Ms xxxxx.
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Your Sincerely
THE DOG CONTROL ORDERS CAME INTO FORCE ON THE 2nd MAY 2008, SO IT HAS TAKEN A YEAR TO ACHIEVE THESE DIZZYING HEIGHTS!
AND AS MUCH AS I HATE TO BE THE BEARER OF SAD TIDINGS, BUT THE CONTENT ON WEB PAGES DOESN'T ACTUALLY CHANGE ITSELF.....IN FACT I THINK THAT IS ACTUALLY THE JOB OF THE WEBMASTER......BUT THEN AGAIN WHAT DO I KNOW?
Value For Money?
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