We are delighted to report that our campaign to persuade Brent Council to continue to allow dogs to be exercised off the lead in the cemetery has been successful.

On 9 September FOPOC members addressed Brent Council to explain the advantages of encouraging the community of dog walkers in the cemetery, some of whom are there twice a day.

We reminded councillors that users of the cemetery have exercised their dogs their off-lead in the cemetery for decades. It was for a long period a decommissioned cemetery used as an open space and has only relatively recently started opening new graves again. Kilburn is desperately short of spaces like this.

We also explained that dog walkers are a significant proportion of the people who use the cemetery daily and they help to keep it safe. Most are responsible about clearing up after their dogs and making sure they don’t disturb other people, particularly mourners. They report incidents and other nuisances such as Japanese Knotweed and have a friendly relationship with the cemetery staff.

We were worried that if dog walkers were forced to keep their dogs on the lead they would drift away from the cemetery and the relatively low level of anti-social behaviour would bill become more prevalent, driving other responsible users away and changing the nature of this treasured green space.

Now we plan to devise and consult on a code of conduct requiring dog owners to pick up after them and put any out-of-control dog on the lead if asked to by a member of staff.