Victory! Compassionate Eastbourne rejects plans for horse-drawn carriages

Animal Aid’s Horse Consultant, Dene Stansall, addressed an informal meeting of Councillors in May. Around half the Council attended, and we were able to provide them with details of the numerous health problems and hazards that would face the horses, as well as potential public safety issues. It was clear that the Councillors were shocked by our presentation and indicated immediately that they did not plan to proceed with the proposal. However, we had to await formal ratification of their decision before we could announce the good news. That came at a meeting of the full Council yesterday evening (18 July), where they unanimously endorsed the Cabinet’s decision to abandon the horse carriage scheme.

We are extremely grateful to the Councillors for their willingness to attend the briefing session and to listen to our arguments with open minds. It gives us great hope that, once we are able to liaise with other councils about this issue, then the sight of horses dragging heavy carriages around busy, noisy and polluted city centres will become a thing of the past.

If you are an Eastbourne resident, please take a moment to email your Councillor (you can find the details here: http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/council/councillors/) to thank him or her for rejecting the proposal to introduce horse-drawn carriages.