My children have always been brave and fearless. They wouldn’t think twice about climbing the tallest tree in any park. The only problem is they would stay up there indefinitely if so much as a shih-tzu started snuffling at the base. The fact that my kids are scared of the many dogs we encounter when we play outdoors is a small pain. But it raises interesting questions about who has priority in a public space – a dog or a child?

This debate has suddenly gone into overdrive in Tower Hamlets, east London, where we live. A consultation by the local council about imposing stricter controls on dog owners has sparked a visible rise in pro-dog activism over the past few weeks.

The consultation – which ended this month and is now under consideration – asked whether a public spaces protection order (PSPO) needs to be implemented to stop dog-related antisocial behaviour. In the consultation’s own words, it stemmed from “a recent spate of high-profile incidents involving out of control nuisance dogs and their owners”. Council data shows that 108 dog attack offences occurred in 2023-24, almost double the number in 2019-20. Under the PSPO, owners would need to keep their dogs on leads........

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