Paddington Old Cemetery : resting place, wildlife haven and more
Dog owners in the Kilburn area are campaigning to retain the right to walk their dogs off-lead in Paddington Old Cemetery. There is a lot at stake for dog walkers, especially for women.
If you do not have a relative buried there or if you don’t own a dog, the chances are that you never visited Paddington Old Cemetery (POC) in Kilburn. You don’t need a reason to visit this public space and cemetery that only opens up onto Willesden Lane though. Until this week, I had never walked past the iron gates of the horseshoe-shaped 24 acres (9.7 hectares) green space myself. It’s only after I met Cordelia Uys last Friday that I felt compelled to go and visit the park recognised of Special Historic Interest by Historic England.
“I never experienced anything like this!”
Cordelia, a Queen’s Park resident, is part of a new group called Dogs of Paddington Old Cemetery (DOPOC) along with 140 fellow local dog owners. Before she adopted a dog in 2021, the breastfeeding counsellor only set foot in Paddington Old Cemetery once. Since then, her retired 73 year old husband and herself have become daily visitors. They walk their two dogs - a husky and a labradoodle - off leads there and have become part of a large community of dog walkers. “I never experienced anything like this! We have made so many friends”, Cordelia tells me when we meet at the Hearth on Lonsdale Road.
I contacted Cordelia, who is a member of the steering committee of DOPOC, after reading about the mobilisation of POC’s dog walkers in reaction to a series of actions taken by Brent Council. I was impressed by how quickly the group sprang into action and even more so by the depth of their mobilisation to maintain the right to walk their dogs off-leads in the cemetery. Not only does DOPOC have their own website and an informative Instagram account l but the newly formed group also adopted a code of conduct for owners and dog walkers to make a point that they are responsible dog owners who show respect for grave visitors and wish to live peacefully alongside them.
Dog poo or fox poo?
The mobilisation of DOPOC led me to question my own assumptions about the essential needs of city dogs. I do not own a dog and I never owned one. I am pretty sure that, if I had been asked out of the blue whether dogs should be allowed in cemeteries, I would probably have replied that they shouldn’t - without giving much thought, if any, to where they should be allowed to be off-lead and what the consequences would be for them, their owners and the area at large. Also, until I visited Paddington Old Cemetery, I wasn’t fully aware of the size of the outdoor space and the way it is already segmented into areas where dogs can be off-lead and others where they have to be on a lead.
For context, Paddington Old Cemetery, which was built in 1855, is the only cemetery in Brent where dogs can be off-lead. It’s been the case for decades but Brent Council wants to put an end to this exception. More specifically, it wants to extend its Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) - a tool introduced as part of The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 voted under David Cameron’s government - to Paddington Old Cemetery citing “an increasing number of complaints about the behaviour of dogs at this location”.
In September, Michelle O’Connor launched a petition on Change.org “to stop Paddington Old Cemetery being used as a dog toilet/exercise facility”. She claims among other things that “dogs defecate and urinate on graves and run around disturbing the tranquility, this is an insult to the deceased and their relatives”. The same month, the council informed Friends of Paddington Old Cemetery (FOPOC) that dog owners would be banned from walking their dogs off-leads from October 1st.
The news provoked a backlash among dog owners and many local residents who do not believe that dogs defecate on graves. “People who have dogs know that they like to poop on grass”, Cordelia highlights when we meet. She thinks that foxes are the most likely culprits but people who do not own a dog cannot necessarily tell the difference between a dog poo and a fox poo, she adds.
From bad to worse
Following this first wave of protests from dog owners, the council backtracked and said that they were going to hold a consultation and then decide on a course of action. However, far from calming things down, the consultation published by Brent Council on October 18th caused an even bigger uproar.
The questions asked by the council were considered as heavily biased by dog owners. One of the questions submitted to Brent residents and other stakeholders was : “Do you agree with dogs urinating on graves?”. The survey also included a major and bizarre restriction : only one answer per household was allowed. A Freedom of Information (FOI) submitted by DOPOC to Brent Council that Cordelia shared with me confirmed that no consultation before that one had ever been subjected to a similar restriction. So why make an exception with this particular consultation?
On October 21rst, Brent Council published a second version of the consultation. Although slightly different, it does contain some very loaded questions which read more like statements than questions. “Did you know there is a green space named Tiverton Green, 15 minutes walk away (4 mins drive) from the cemetery where dogs can be walked off lead?”, the consultation asks, hinting that it wouldn’t make a big difference for dog walkers to deviate from their current route and head to Tiverton Green instead.
A place with a loo
This is one of the many points on which Brent Council and DOPOC disagree. Dog owners do not consider Tiverton Green, which is located in Queen’s Park, as a suitable alternative to Paddington Old Cemetery.
Although Tiverton Green is a space where dogs can walk off-lead, it is already a very busy dog park. It is also noticeably smaller than POC. Cordelia is also concerned by the fact that the gates are often left open and that it’s possible for small dogs to escape through the park railings. And then she adds something that really gets my attention : “There aren’t any toilets in Tiverton Green”.
I was already aware that there aren’t any loos in Tiverton Green. What I ignored though is that, on top of being a wildlife haven and a great socialising space for dog owners, Paddington Old Cemetery is a rare Brent open space with public toilets - which makes it an even more valuable place.
“The loo leash”
Women do not use parks and public spaces as much as they wish because they fear for their safety and because of the lack of public toilets. There is a long history of women’s freedom being restricted by the lack of public loos. I found a very instructive article on the subject written by Grace Phiri, a PhD Researcher at the University of Leeds in 2022 entitled “Women’s rights and the “loo leash”: the fight for public toilets in the UK”.
The situation was very poor in the 19th century. “The ‘loo leash’ affected poor lower class women more than the middle and upper class as the latter could afford to pay in private public toilets and shop in departmental shops with toilets”, Grace Phiri writes. However, things are not that much better nowadays. In an article published by the Big Issue a year ago, it said that “The British Toilet Association (BTA) estimates that nearly 60% of public loos have been lost since 2010, mostly a result of slashed council budgets”.
You may think that I am deviating from the original topic at the heart of this newsletter. For the sake of clarity, there is no plan for Paddington Old Cemetery’s toilets to close down. The question at stake here is whether dog owners will be able to walk their pets off-lead or not in the future. Nevertheless, I think it’s important to keep in mind the consequences that it would have for their owners and, more specifically, for women.
If the restrictions are implemented by Brent Council, it will mean that the cemetery and open space would be a far less attractive place for local dog owners and they would have to go somewhere else - probably by car, based on the survey carried out by DOPOC - to provide their dogs the exercise they need. Given the lack (if not total absence) of public toilets in Brent open spaces that allow dogs off-lead, it’s no exaggeration to say that female dog owners and dog owners in general would be under quite a lot of urinary stress if they were banned from walking their dogs off-lead in POC.
The lack of public toilets is a public health issue with serious consequences. I hope Brent Council will take it into consideration in their decision.
You have until December 10th to take part in the consultation.
Brent news
♀️Today, on November 29th, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (IEVAW), Revd Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy, Bishop of Willesden, will be leading a group of male cyclists across London to highlight the duties and responsibilities men bear in ending all forms of male violence against women and girls (read more about the fundraising ride here).
🌳 Trees for Cities and Brent Council are working with local residents to increase planting in Longstone Avenue Open Space in Church End and Roundwood, including new hedges and trees. Have your say here.
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