ANGRY dog owners gave councillors a noisy welcome to Nelson town hall last night, as they staged a protest over plans to increase stray dog fines.

Animal lovers gathered ahead of the full Pendle Council meeting, with banners condemning what they called a 'dog tax'.

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They fear the plan, to increase the charge for collecting and kennelling stray dogs from £40 to £100, would lead to the death of many pets. However, three Lib Dem councillors – Claire Teall, Ann Kerrigan and Ken Hartley – have ‘called in’ the ruling, meaning it will be reconsidered next month.

Paula Knowles, who runs the Pendle Dogs in Need charity, said: "We just want to raise awareness about how many people don't want this.

"We met five of the Conservative councillors yesterday and they have promised to listen to us. We have made the point that the people this is aimed at aren't going to pay this fine, so the dogs will get left at the pound and have to be put down after seven days.

"We are already subsidising people so they can pay the £40 fine."

The proposal is part of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat-controlled Pendle Council's annual income review, which looked at adding and increasing charges to many services to generate more income for the cash-strapped authority.

Beverley Jenkinson, who has three dogs, said: "We appreciate stray dogs are a real issue here and it needs a solution, but this isn't it."

Also joining the protest was Labour county councillor Azhar Ali, who said: "I think the council will back down on this and realise they have made a cock up."