European Union can affect cat ownership in UK

EU directive affects cat and dog ownership UK

This is an example of how the European Union can affect cat ownership in the UK.  We know how European Union regulations can invade all parts of our life here in the UK and many people don’t like it; this is another example.

There are two aspects of this. Firstly, everybody has heard about what most people consider to be too much immigration into the UK. This puts pressure on housing. Houses need to be built and sometimes the only place you can build houses is next to wildlife habitat which is protected, which is what happened in Hampshire on a part of Farnborough Airfield.

Five hundred houses were built on the site. Permission to build houses was granted by the local county council. In granting the right to developers to build houses they imposed a condition that homeowners could not keep cats or dogs.

That specific condition of owning a home on this development was forced upon the council by European Union. The condition for home ownership in this instance was imposed by the the European Habitats’ Directive which, as mentioned, projects special areas in respect of wildlife conservation.

In this instance the area of importance is the unspoiled heath, Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area, near to Farnborough airfield which is home to rare birds including the endangered ground nesting nightjar and warblers.

I’m very surprised that dogs were banned from this estate, and even cats, although cats have a very unfair reputation for being hunters of birds. Even the RSPB said they did not support the ban despite the area having an international reputation for wildlife habitat. It should be noted that dogs and cats are not specified in the EU directive, so that decision must have been made by the council in trying to comply with the directive.

The mistake was building houses alongside this special wildlife habitat. The RSPB said that it was the equivalent of putting up an apartment block next to a rainforest.

This housing estate should never have been built in the first place but due to pressure from immigration, I suspect, it had to be built in an unsuitable location, so you can see that it was a double whammy; both open EU borders creating housing pressure and then the EU creating restrictions on dog and cat ownership.

The difficulty will be in enforcing this ban because once houses are sold and new owners move in, these conditions (covenants) are likely to fade away due to a lack of enforcement.

The photo is by Roger H Goun on Flickr

13 thoughts on “European Union can affect cat ownership in UK”

  1. Sorry to appear ignorant; but, I don’t know a lot about the European Union except that it is a political and economic force across many European countries.

    I don’t know how this could have even happened really or why it is tolerated. Are the members elected, appointed, etc.? Can a country withdraw?

    It sounds a whole lot like a massive dictatorship.

    Not critical, just dumb.
    God knows that we have more than enough agencies telling us how to live our lives.
    If my civil rights can’t be protected, I should at least expect my human rights to be.

    So, housing was insanely built next to a wildlife habitat. They’re tough luck, I say. Companion animals shouldn’t have to suffer for poor planning.

  2. It’s probably just as well cats and dogs ARE banned there because their lives would have been pure misery and confinement. My gripe is with the building of the houses in the first place, laws are made and used to restrict, and take, the lives of animals, but when it comes to people, oh yes they have to have houses, they have to build wherever and whenever they can because of not only immigrants but because everyone and his uncle is entitled to free fertility treatments nowadays, get kids, get more kids, don’t worry about paying for their upkeep, get homes built for them before they too double or treble or quadruple themselves, cater for all humanity, but whatever you do don’t allow cats and dogs to live there. Huh!

  3. Well I for one am glad that it’s not only cats banned but dogs too, for once cats are not second class citizens not deemed as important as dogs.

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