{"id":592485,"date":"2025-11-25T08:52:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T08:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/592485\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T08:52:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T08:52:22","slug":"dog-walkers-get-lower-park-fees-after-bristol-rethink-amid-unfair-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/592485\/","title":{"rendered":"Dog walkers get lower park fees after Bristol rethink amid \u2018unfair\u2019 claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some readers say it’s unfair on other groups(Image: Chappell and Matthews)<\/p>\n

Bristol Live readers have been discussing the announcement that professional dog walkers are set to pay less than other groups for using Bristol’s parks<\/a> under new licensing plans. The city council had previously put a hold on an earlier plan due to concerns raised by dog walkers about the proposed \u00a3450 fee per business, per park, being too steep.<\/p>\n

The revised plan, expected early next year, will introduce a separate scheme for commercial dog walkers, featuring lower fees than those imposed on larger bootcamp classes. The council has clarified that the objective is to monitor commercial activity and verify insurance and qualifications, rather than generate revenue.<\/p>\n

However, after lobbying from dog walkers, Bristol City Council<\/a> has agreed to lower the licence fees for them compared to other businesses such as personal trainers conducting bootcamp classes. These were initially suggested at \u00a3450 per business in one park, earlier this year.<\/p>\n

This decision has sparked mixed reactions among readers. One reader, Luvbris: writes: “Good grief, dog walkers, and personal trainers, get a proper job for goodness sake.”<\/p>\n

Purple Juice replies: “Beats sponging off the state.”<\/p>\n

Fluffball says: “If anyone has to pay, it should be the same for all groups! Dog walkers are not special cases.”<\/p>\n

Dbanderson adds: “Well, if they start charging \u00a3450 for exercising in groups, they soon will be.”<\/p>\n

AdvisoryService101 comments: “Many of the dog walking businesses let packs of out of control dogs jump on people and block pathways for others. Should be forced to keep the dogs under control. Just corruption, if the council starts giving discounts to some business club groups and not the others.”<\/p>\n

Berklicker disagrees: “Many eh? I’ve never met anyone professionally letting packs of dogs run wild in all my life so maybe you’re just making stuff up? Or maybe these ‘business club groups’ with ‘packs of out of control dogs’ should use treadmills or something? It’s a wild world out there, you take care..”<\/p>\n

Walkmydogandlieaboutit asks: “Have I missed something here? People choose to own a dog but pay someone else to walk it? I’ve just about got my head around those who pay someone to make them exercise. Maybe I’ll get someone to ride my bike to work (yeah, I know) whilst I drive just so I can tick the cycle to work box on the survey.”<\/p>\n

SWASHBUCKLER replies: “People choose to have children and pay someone to look after them, it\u2019s life today. A lot better than going to work and locking the dog in all day.”<\/p>\n

Fluffball suggests: “Maybe people who don’t have time to care for their dogs should not have them? Too many people got dogs during lockdown because they were bored, but cannot care for them now that they\u2019re back at work.”<\/p>\n

Prims queries: “Are they going to charge professional child minders for taking their charges for a walk in the park? How much is it going to cost to employ ‘Park Police’ to enforce this new ‘law’? I used to take my elderly neighbour\u2019s three elderly dogs for walks in my local park. I was paid in full – a box of cream cakes every week. Would the council have accepted a cream cake as payment?”<\/p>\n

Do you think that professional dog walkers or any other group should be exempt from or receive a discount for using the park as a business? Comment below or HERE<\/a> to join in the conversation.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some readers say it’s unfair on other groups(Image: Chappell and Matthews) Bristol Live readers have been discussing the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8818],"tags":[381,3893,748,10006,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-592485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bristol","8":"tag-bristol","9":"tag-bristol-city-council","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-commenting-content","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115609492448156603","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}