Hastings backs £100 dog poo bag fines: what walkers need to know

A new bag-carrying requirement has cabinet backing in Hastings. The wording, exceptions and existing seafront rules matter as much as the £100 headline.

Edited by Scoop · theTailed Newsroom · 4 minute read · 8 September 2026

Hastings has backed a new requirement for dog walkers to carry something they can use to clear up after their animals, with £100 fines part of the plans. The BBC reported the cabinet decision on 8 September, following the council meeting the previous evening.

The change shifts attention to what a walker brings out of the house, as well as what happens when a dog leaves a mess. It raises a practical question: what counts as being prepared, and what happens if the last bag has already been used?

The council's published proposal contains a reasonable-excuse provision. Its existing rules also make clear that carrying bags is only one part of walking responsibly in Hastings: the promenade, beaches and parks have their own restrictions. Here is how those pieces fit together.

What the cabinet has backed

According to Nathan Bevan's BBC report, the cabinet voted to renew the Dog Control Public Space Protection Order for three years. A Public Space Protection Order, usually shortened to PSPO, sets restrictions for public places in a council area.

The BBC reports that the £100 fixed penalty would fall to £50 if paid within 10 days. It also reports that officers will give out bags during the first few months to people who have innocently forgotten them.

The report does not specify a commencement date. A cabinet vote and the date a new requirement takes effect are distinct, so this is not confirmation that a missing bag can already attract the new penalty today.

Does it have to be a poo bag?

The wording in the council's closed consultation refers to a suitable receptacle or another means of removing dog waste. It also proposes an offence of failing to produce one when an authorised officer asks, while allowing someone to demonstrate a reasonable excuse for not having one.

That matters when considering the empty-roll question. The published wording includes an exception, but it does not settle how every individual explanation would be assessed. It would be misleading to promise either an automatic fine or an automatic exemption after someone has used their final bag.

In the BBC interview, the cabinet member responsible for community safety said a tissue or something similar would also be acceptable. The point is the ability to remove the waste, rather than owning a particular branded accessory.

Why the council wants the extra requirement

Local Democracy Reporting Service coverage carried by V2 Radio explains the proposal's purpose: officers could address preparedness without having to witness a dog fouling. The cabinet report described education and targeted patrols as part of the approach, rather than predicting a large number of penalty notices.

That pre-vote report says the consultation received 245 responses from Hastings residents and eight from elsewhere. It reports 96% support for the additional offence among respondents. Those are consultation responses, not a representative opinion poll of everyone who walks a dog in the town.

Check the route as well as the bag supply

The council's current dog-control page says dogs must stay on leads on the promenade and that fouling must be removed. It directs visitors to local signs for park and open-space restrictions, and provides an interactive map and the full order.

Its published beach rules exclude dogs from two specified stretches between 1 April and 30 September. Other stretches permit dogs, so the whole seafront should not be treated as one exclusion zone. Check the map for the part you intend to visit.

For a Hastings walk, that makes the useful check a two-part one: take enough means to clear up, and check where the dog may go. A full dispenser will not answer the second question.

Sources and update record

Reporting and council pages checked on 8 September 2026. The BBC supplies the post-vote account; the consultation records the proposed wording, while the council's current page describes existing restrictions. The precise start date for the new bag requirement was not established in these sources. Illustration is conceptual.