Stockport's dog warden can fine again since 27 October: £100 for fouling, four dogs per walker, leads in five cemeteries, no dogs in 135 play areas.

Stockport’s dog warden can hand out £100 fines again from Tuesday 27 October. The council has renewed its dog control order, which lapsed in March 2025 and left the warden unable to issue a single fixed penalty notice for 19 months.

Updated 30 October: the council’s decision record, read today, shows the decision as approved and effective from 27 October, with no call-in recorded. The order is in force.

The decision was taken on 19 October by the Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture and Protection and published the next day. The call-in deadline was Monday 26 October, and the record shows the decision effective from 27 October. The order lasts for three years.

Why it is coming back

The council first brought in the order in 2018 after a large number of complaints about dog fouling. It was renewed in 2022 and ran out in March 2025, according to the officers’ report.

Since then the warden has had other powers but could not issue fixed penalty notices. The report says complaints about fouling are lower than they were, but the council still received 378 in the 12 months after the order expired.

What the rules are

The new order copies the old one. It is an offence to:

  • fail to pick up after your dog on any public land in the borough
  • fail to show an authorised officer a bag or other means of picking up, when asked, whether or not your dog has fouled
  • refuse to put your dog on a lead when an officer tells you to because it is causing a nuisance or is out of control
  • let your dog off the lead in five council cemeteries
  • take a dog into an enclosed play area, bowling green or fenced sports area
  • walk more than four dogs at once in around 140 parks and open spaces

Not knowing your dog had fouled, or not having a bag, does not count as a reasonable excuse, the order says.

Where each rule applies

Rule Where
Pick up, carry bags, lead on request All open-air public land in the borough
Dogs on leads Mill Lane Cemetery and Park Road Cemetery (Cheadle), Highfield Cemetery (Bredbury), Stockport Cemetery and Crematorium, Willow Grove Cemetery (Reddish)
No dogs 135 enclosed play areas, 17 bowling green sites and 43 multi-use games areas, tennis courts and skate or wheeled sports areas
Four dogs per person 138 named parks, playing fields and open spaces, including Reddish Vale, Etherow, Woodbank, Bruntwood, Vernon Park, Bramhall Park and Marple Memorial Park

The full lists are in the schedules at the back of the report. Open football pitches inside parks are covered by the general rules but not by the dog ban, the report says.

The fines

A fixed penalty is £100. Anyone who does not pay can be taken to the magistrates’ court, where the maximum fine is £1,000.

There are exemptions from the fouling, bag and exclusion rules for people who are registered blind, deaf people with a hearing dog, and disabled people with an assistance dog trained by a recognised charity. Working dogs, including police, search and rescue and farm dogs, are exempt while they are working.

What the consultation said

Only five people or groups responded to the public consultation in summer 2025: three residents, the Kennel Club and the Trans Pennine Trail.

All five backed restrictions. Two of the three residents wanted a fine higher than £100. One wanted every dog on a lead in every public place, and another asked for a limit of two or three dogs rather than four.

The Kennel Club opposed the four-dog limit. It said the right number depends on the walker, the dogs and the place, and suggested an accreditation scheme for professional walkers instead. The council replied that it does not have the resources to run one. It also turned down the Kennel Club’s call for more bins, saying bins in the middle of large parks are hard to empty. All of its bins take bagged dog waste, the report says.

What it means for you

  • From 27 October, leaving dog mess on any public land in Stockport can cost you £100 on the spot.
  • Carry a bag on every walk. Being asked to show one and not having it is an offence in its own right.
  • If you walk dogs for a living, four is the maximum in the big parks, including Woodbank, Bruntwood and Reddish Vale.
  • Keep dogs on a lead in the five cemeteries, and out of fenced play areas, bowling greens and courts.
  • If you get a fixed penalty notice, you can make representations to the council or rely on a reasonable excuse defence, the report says.

Anyone who wants to challenge whether the council had the power to make the order can apply to the High Court within six weeks of the date it is made.

For other council services, see our pages on bin collection days and parking in Stockport.