Six dogs can be walked at once as ban is lifted

A ban on walking more than two dogs at a time in London's most affluent streets is set to be overturned after protests.

Kensington and Chelsea council is to allow walkers up to six dogs.

The council's change of heart comes after it was inundated with letters from protesters, including actress Jenny Seagrove and the Countess of Chichester. However, some dogwalkers believe six is too many.

The Tory council introduced the two-dog maximum last January after becoming concerned at groups of professional dog-walkers blocking pavements with packs of animals.

This sparked an outcry and a round of public consultation on easing the restrictions. Councillors meet tonight to debate the findings, with a final decision on increasing the limit to six expected within days. Dozens of residents wrote to the council to protest at the "dog control order", which resulted in four £80 penalty notices being issued to people exercising more than four dogs last spring.

Seagrove, who walks her dogs in Kensington Gardens, said: "Two dogs are too few for a limit and six is too many. You cannot control six dogs or watch for their toilet activities properly. I believe the optimum maximum of dogs taken out together should be set at four."

The Countess of Chichester told the council that as a "responsible" dog owner her civil liberties had been infringed by the restriction. "A number of well-controlled dogs is of no threat nor disturbance to anyone," she said.

Ailsa Greenhalgh, founder of the K9 to 5 Club, said six dogs was too many and that after consulting trainers and the Kennel Club she believed four was the "magic number".

She said: "If you are a dog handler and you want your dogs off the lead, then six is too many to keep an eye on. What if you had six Great Danes?

"Personally, I need to know that the dogs in our care are under control."

Councillor Nick Paget-Brown, who will make the final decision, said: "I have suggested it is a reasonable compromise to take it up from two to six.

"There have been instances where professional dog-walkers have taken out a large number of dogs, on one occasion tied to the back of a bike. My job is to make sure the pavements can be used by everybody."