IT is with much displeasure that we have seen the Dog Control Orders go up last weekend (albeit a week early). We learnt that there was a plan afoot to ban all dogs off-lead from virtually every open space in Tavistock via a leak on the internet. I personally wrote to West Devon Borough Council advising that surely they should put this forward as a curfew, so as owners can, say, walk their dogs in Benson Meadow between 8pm and 8am but not in-between. Most of the dog owners work and this is why we are out in the early hours or late at night, not when the general public and children are out walking. If they continue with this proposal then the non-environmental repercussions would be that those with a car would be forced to drive out onto the moors, or those without would be driven to alternative means, I suspect. I received a reply saying it would be taken into account and it was then duly ignored. I am aware that this was the case with a number of other people who wrote in. If WDBC intend to see this ill-thought-through rule then I trust they have taken into account the additional dog wardens that will have to be employed at our expense (the one we have I have only seen twice in two years) and ensure they will be being paid unsociable hours expenses to cover the supervision of people like myself who are out in the dark at 6.45am walking their dogs. Mike Hooper Tavistock